tihxavy  of  CKe  Cheolojical  ^tminavy 

PRINCETON  •  NEW  JERSEY 
PRESENTED  BY 

Rufus  K.  LeFevre 


:.l  ia52 


APOLOGETICS 


or 


A  Treatise  on   Christian    Evidences 


By 


/ 


EZEKIEL  BORING  KEPHART,  A.M.,  D.D.,  LL.D. 

Bishop  of  the  Church  of  the  United  Brethren  in  Christ 
Author  of  "  Manual  of  Church  Discipline." 


DAYTON,  OHIO 

Press  of  United  Brethren  Publishing  House 

1913 


Copyright,  1901 

By  thk  U.  B.  Publishing  Houaa 

Dayton,  Ohio 

All  Rights  Jieserved 


PREFACE 

Some  things  are  true  in  all  religions.  Each  system 
seems  to  have,  in  a  sense,  its  historical  basis.  Each  sets 
up  its  claim  of  supernatural  origin.  But,  one  by  one,  as 
they  are  subjected  to  a  critical  analysis,  and  the  severe 
test  of  truth  is  faithfully  applied,  their  claims,  which  are 
fundamental,  are  found  to  consist  in  myth,  not  in  fact. 

Christianity,  which  is  founded  on  the  Old  and  the 
New  Testaments,  is  an  exception  to  the  above  statement. 
The  more  severe,  the  broader,  and  the  more  scientific  tlie 
tests  which  have  been  applied  to  Christianity,  the  more 
invulnerable  has  it  proved  to  such  attacks. 

Recognizing  the  facts  set  up  in  the  Holy  Scriptures, 
first,  that  they  are  a  revelation  from  God,  setting  forth 
both  the  religious  and  political  history  of  Israel  which, 
under  the  guidance  of  God,  was  in  due  time  to  bring  forth 
a  Saviour  that  would  redeem  the  world  from  sin  and 
death;  second,  that  in  the  person  of  Jesus  Christ,  th^ 
world's  Saviour  and  Redeemer  has  actually  come,  and  that 
the  statements  made  in  the  Old  and  the  New  Testaments 
concerning  the  development  of  Israel  and  the  records  re- 
specting Jesus  Christ  are  historically  true — these  are 
some  of  the  claims  set  forth  in  the  Christian  system — 
the  Christian  apologist  ought  to  see  that  his  defense  of 
Christianity  must  be  more  than  simply  negative.  As  a 
gatisfactory  working  basis  for  religious  hope  and  activity 
he  must  prove  the  facts  of  Christianity  beyond  a  reason- 
able doubt  To  do  this  has  been  the  intent  of  the  author. 
The  historical  evidence  of  Christianity  from  its  origin  has 

111 


vi  Contents 

Chapter  X. 

PAQC 

The  Superiority  of  Christianity  Over  Other  Religious 
and  Its  Intrinsic  Wortli  a  Proof  of  Its  Divine 
Origin,       ..._-----        147 

Chapter  X^ 

Some  Objections  of  the  Honest  Doubter  to  Christianity 

Answered,     ---------    lo/ 


CONTENTS. 

Chapter  I. 
A  Revelatiou— If,3  Need  aud  What  Is  to  be  Proved,       -        7 

Chapter  II. 
Authenticity  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  -        -       -       -         18 

Chapter  III. 
Inspiration  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  -        -       -       -      45 

Chapter  IV. 
Miracles — Their  Credibility  and  Intent,       -       -       -         59 

Chapter  V. 
Miracles— Continued,         --.----77 

Chapter  VI. 
Facts  Admitted  in  Christianity,    -----         99 

Chapter  VII. 
The  Christ— A  Self-Revelation  of  God  to  Man,       -        -    107 

Chapter  VIII. 
Prophecy — A  Proof  of  Christianity,     -        -        -        .        119 

Chapter  IX. 

The  Doctrines  and  Teachings  of  the  Scriptures  Accord 

With  the  Facts  of  Human  History',  -        -        -    139 


iv  Preface 

been  abundant,  but  at  the  present  it  is  overwhelming. 
The  records  of  the  buried  past  are  telling  their  story,  and 
adding  their  wealth  of  testimony  to  the  truth  of  the  writ- 
ten Word.  Christianity,  like  many  other  systems  of 
truth,  is  not  exempt  from  objections  which  are  difficult 
to  answer. 

In  this  volume  only  a  preliminary  discussion  of  a  num- 
ber of  the  fundamental  facts  are  considered,  setting  forth 
briefly  the  status  of  Christian  evidences  at  the  present 
time.  EzEKiEL  B.  Kephart. 

Annvilhj  Pa. 


APOLOGETICS 


CHAPTER  I. 
A  Eevelation — Its  Need  and  What  Is  to  Be  Proved. 

A  correct  treatise  on  Christian  evidences  has  to  do 
with  facts  that  are  vital  to  tlie  evangelization  of  the 
world.  On  the  inherent  truths  of  the  Christian  system 
depends  its  ultimate  triumph.  To  set  forth  its  divine 
origin,  then,  as  taught  in  the  Old  and  New  Testaments, 
is  the  purpose  of  this  treatise.  Does  the  Bible  contain 
a  revelation  of  the  divine  Mind  to  man?  is  a  question 
that  thrusts  itself  upon  every  investigator  of  its  pages,  the  Book. 
Are  the  motives  of  Moses  and  the  prophets,  and  of  Christ 
and  his  apostles,  as  contained  in  the  Old  and  New  Testa- 
ments, really  true,  and  is  Christianity  supernatural,  and 
are  its  claims  of  God  ?  If,  then,  the  history  recorded  in 
the  Scriptures,  and  the  statements  therein  contained 
relative  to  revealed  religion  be  worthy  of  belief,  these 
questions  must  receive  an  affirmative  answer. 

It  is  not  the  business  of  the  apologist  to  step  aside 
from  his  legitimate  task  to  prove  the  existence  of  God 
and  the  truths  of  natural  religion.    That,  together  with 
all  that  belongs  to  the  subject  of  theism,  falls  to  the  lot   Limitations 
of  the  theologian,  and  comes  more  properly  under  the  gu^j^t 
head  of  natural  theology.     These  facts,  namely,  the 

7 


8 


Apologetics 


No  VaUd 
Objections 
Against 
Revelation. 


God 

Revealed  In 
Nature. 


The  Special 
Revelation 
Is  Personal 
—  a  Father 
to  His 
Children. 


existence  of  God  and  his  manifest  government  of  the 
universe,  are  taken  for  granted  in  these  pages. 

1.  There  is  no  valid  objection  against  a  revelation 
of  God  to  man.  Man  is  a  compound  of  material  and 
spiritual  substances.  The  ego,  that  is,  the  personality, 
the  rational  soul,  is  spirit,  and  lives  in  a  material  body. 
Thought  is  the  act  of  the  spirit,  not  of  the  body;  and 
wisdom  and  knowledge  are  its  possessions,  and  do  not  in- 
here in  the  body. 

God  is  a  spirit,  and  a  revelation  from  him  as  such  to 
man  is,  after  all,  but  the  communication  of  one  spirit 
with  another  spirit,  one  person  with  another.  Man,  as  a 
rational  spirit,  is  endowed  with  a  capacity  for  receiving 
and  storing  up  knowledge.  This  he  does  by  coming  in 
contact  with  the  thoughts  and  ideas  communicated  to 
him  from  without.  The  earth  beneath  his  feet  and  the 
heavens  which  overshadow  him,  with  all  their  starry 
host,  are  constantly  yielding  up  thoughts  and  ideas  to 
him  and  enriching  his  knowledge  by  their  revelations  of 
truth.  True,  nature  does  not  speak  into  human  ears  with 
human  voice,  but  she  communicates  to  the  conscious  soul 
by  "marks  of  design,"  which  are  plainly  written  in  every 
fiber  of  her  warp  and  woof,  and  discloses  "the  eternal 
power  and  Godhead"  of  her  supreme  Architect. 

But  God's  special  revelation  to  man,  the  Old  and  New 
Testaments,  is  a  personal  revelation ;  that  is,  a  revelation 
from  one  person  to  another  person.  It  is  nothing  more 
than  the  great  Father  communicating  useful  informa- 
tion to  his  children;  and,  too,  imparting  this  informa- 
tion in  his  children's  own  language,  a  language  which 
they  well  understand.    Surely,  there  is  nothing  unrea- 


A  Mevelation  9 

sonable  in  all  this,  but  it  is  what  reason  demands  from 
every  father  who  lays  claim  to  have  any  love  for  his 
offspring. 

This  revelation  from  God,  as  Father,  to  man,  as  his 
child,  implies  a  making  known  of  the  will  of  the  Father 
to  the  child,  with  a  view  that  the  child  may  understand 
and  obey.  In  this  relation  will  and  obedience  imply 
moral  obligation.  Moral  obligation,  in  turn,  implies 
specific  knowledge  of  what  is  required  from  the  one  mak- 
ing the  requisition  to  the  one  at  whose  hand  obedience  is 
required.  Nature  may  speak  her  ideas  in  mute  forms 
and  in  her  necessary  movements,  but  will  God,  who  is 
historic  and  can  but  speak  clear  and  definite  truth  ?  The 
creation  of  a  world  may  declare  "the  power  and  God- 
head" of  its  creator,  but  the  historic  government  of  that 
world  alone  can  reveal  his  attributes  of  justice,  love, 
mercy,  and  goodness. 

2.  A  general  history  would  be  an  inadequate  medium 
of  revelation,  for  while  it  may  refer  to  the  individual, 
yet  it  has  to  do  more  especially  with  the  race.  The  acts 
of  divine  providence  are  too  general  in  their  applica- 
tion to  produce  conviction,  on  the  one  hand,  or  the  rest 
of  "perfect  peace"  by  faith,  on  the  other.  But  in  a 
very  special  sense  should  a  revelation  to  creatures  mor- 
ally depraved  and  actually  willfully  sinful  be  specific- 
ally historic — "a  sacred  history  within  the  profane  his- 
tory of  a  fallen  world." 

The  sacred  Scriptures  claim  to  be  such  a  history  from 
God,  the  Father,  to  his  children,  of  the  redemptive  act 
in  man's  behalf  and  the  mediation  of  Jesus  Christ,  to 
Mft  him  into  conditions  of  reconciliation  with  God. 


10 


Apologetics 


3.  A  special  revelation  from  God  to  man  implies  also 
the  gift  of  information  to  man  additional  to  that  al- 
ready had  by  him,  and  also  man's  capacity  for  receiving 
such  special  revelation.  To  deny  the  possibility  of  a 
special  revelation  would  be  to  claim  that  God  had  given 
to  man  all  the  information  he  was  capable  of  giving  and 
man,  capable  of  receiving,  at  the  very  opening  of  human 
history — at  his  creation.  This  does  not  accord  with  the 
common  sense  of  mankind.  Man  knows,  on  the  one 
hand,  that  he  is  capable  of  receiving  additional  informa- 
tion, and,  on  the  other,  he  believes  that  God  is  able  to 
give  that  information.  If,  for  some  great  and  worthy 
purpose,  and  to  accomplish  a  noble  end,  such  as  the 
redemption  and  salvation  of  a  world,  additional  in- 
formation was  needful  to  that  world,  who  would  be  so 
weak  as  to  acknowledge  the  need  of  the  added  light  from 
heaven,  and  yet  turn  and  deplore  God's  lack  of  ability 
to  give  the  needed  information  ? 

God,  the  creator  of  the  spirit,  understands  the  consti- 
tution of  man,  and  knows  how  he  may  be  enlightened 
and  influenced ;  and,  having  all  power,  he  can,  in  accord 
with  his  own  will,  adopt  means  to  act  upon  him.  This  is 
no  infringement  upon  God's  creature  by  his  Creator. 
Just  "as  a  man  can  be  influenced  intellectually  and  mor- 
ally by  his  fellow-creature  without  the  violation  of  any 
law  of  nature  or  mind,  so  he  can  certainly  receive  com- 
munication from  his  Creator — the  Maker  of  men  and 
all  things — without  the  destruction  of  the  laws  of  his 
own  constitution  or  those  of  the  world." 

4.  In  considering  the  subject  of  a  special  revelation, 
the  fact  must  not  be  overlooked  that,  as  such,  it  must 


A  Revelation  11 

always  be  regarded  as  supplemental  to  God's  first  and 
universal  revelation,  namely,  the  light  of  nature.  The 
facts  attesting  its  divine  authority  may  transcend  but 
not  violate  the  laws  of  man's  nature ;  they  may  be  super- 
natural, immediate,  and  additional  to  nature,  but  never 
out  of  accord  with,  or  subversive  of  its  constitution. 

By  a  reasonable  mind  it  will  scarcely  be  questioned 
that  God,  in  giving  a  special  revelation,  is  capable  also 
of  rendering  the  recipient  able  to  distinguish  between 
what  comes  from  the  natural  sources  of  knowledge  and  gpggjjj 
what  is  revealed  by  special  revelation.    All  who  recog-   Revelation 
nize  the  possibility  of  a  revelation  recognize  also  God' s  ^^  ^^^  lAgax 
ability  to  so  communicate  his  truths  to  man  that  he  is   ol  Nature, 
without  the  possibility  not  to  recognize  the  voice  of  God 
who  speaks. 

The  skeptical  objection  against  the  supernatural  in 
Christianity  has  at  present  but  little  influence  on  honest 
investigators  and  earnest  truth-seekers ;  and,  as  the  world 
recedes  from  the  days  of  David  Hume,  the  influence 
gradually  diminishes.    Its  syllogistic  form  is,  "That  as   g^^^^.g 
testimony  is  more  likely  to  be  false  than  man's  general   otjection 
experience,  therefore  no  miracle  can  be  true."    Such  rea-  ^JJJ^re^* 
soning  would  be  subversive  of  all  truth,  natural  as  well 
as  supernatural  or  spiritual.     The  good  sense  of  man- 
kind will  always  reject  it  as  proving  too  much  to  be  true 
or  relied  upon.    Skepticism  has  always  failed  to  recog- 
nize this  fact  in  respect  to  the  miracles  recorded  in  the 
Scriptures,  namely,  that  they  were  both  objects  of  ex- 
perience and  subjects  of  testimony  to  the  men  who 
then  lived  where  they  were  performed. 

5.     While  it  may  be  a  question  of  doubt  whether  the 
apologist  is  under  obligation  to  show  the  necessity  of  a 


12  Apologetics 

special  revelation  prior  to  the  consideration  of  its  truths 
as  matters  of  fact,  yet  there  is  scarcely  room  for  reason- 
able doubt  but  that  such  a  necessity  has,  and  does  now 
really  exist. 

(1)  The  condition  of  religion  among  pagan  races  in 
the  past,  as  well  as  in  the  present  age,  will  always  be  a 
forceful  argument  in  favor  of  man's  need  of  special  re- 
vealed truth.  While  nature's  light  has  been  alike  free 
to  all,  its  religious  teachings  have  not  been  sufficient  to 
lift  the  world  out  of  its  sins  into  conditions  of  a  true 
civilization;  or,  at  least,  it  has  never  succeeded  in  doing 
so.  Not  only  has  it  been  the  complaint  of  the  serious 
pagan  that  the  needed  light  from  heaven  to  direct  man 
aright  in  matters  of  religion  and  of  a  future  life  is  want- 
specisa  ^^^'  ^^^  ®^^^  ^^^^  ^^^  addition  of  the  Christian  revela- 
Reveiation  tion  no  right-minded  person  will  complain  that  the  world 
Conduit *"  has  too  much  light  on  the  subject  of  immortality  and 
of  Pagans,  all  that  pertains  to  human  duty.  To  the  serious-minded 
in  all  ages  and  of  all  lands  it  has  been  quite  apparent 
"that  it  is  not  in  man  to  direct  his  steps."  When  philos- 
ophy and  learning  had  well  nigh  reached  their  culmina- 
tion in  the  ancient  world,  the  wisest  and  best  of  that 
age  is  represented  as  expressing  his  expectation  and  need 
of  a  teacher  qualified  to  reveal  the  mind  of  God  to  the 
human  race.  Said  the  wise  Socrates,  "It  is  necessary 
to  wait  till  such  a  personage  shall  appear  to  teach  them 
how  tbey  ought  to  conduct  themselves,  both  towards  God 
and  towards  man."  He  adds:  "Oh,  when  shall  that 
period  arrive?  And  who  shall  be  that  teacher?  How 
ardently  do  I  desire  to  see  that  man,  who  he  is !" 


A  Mevelation  13 

(2)  With  all  that  Jesus  says  in  the  Gospels  about  a 

future  life  and  immortality,  and  what  is  necessary  upon   Need  ot 

the  part  of  man  to  srain  heaven,  who  that  reads  his  sacred   Special 

^  o  ^  Revelation, 

message  does  not  wish  he  had  given  us  a  little  more  light  as  Shown 

on  the  future  world — on  heaven  and  the  relation  the  dead  ^  *^® 

6oq>el8. 
sustain  to  the  living  ? 

6.  Then,  if  man  needs  a  special  revelation  from 
heaven,  and  God  is  able  to  give  the  needed  light,  and 
man  is  capable  of  receiving  it,  it  therefore  follows  that  Some 
if  God  is  wise,  just,  and  good  such  a  special  revelation  consWered 
has  been  given.  The  parent  who  has  the  ability  to  pro- 
vide for  the  needs  of  his  offspring,  and  neglects  or  re- 
fuses to  do  so,  is  not  wise,  just,  and  good.  The  same 
would  be  true  of  the  great  Father  of  us  all.  "But  as 
a  father  pitieth  his  children,  so  the  Lord  pitieth  them 
that  fear  him." 

If,  then,  a  special  revelation  is  not  out  of  accord  with 
the  wisdom,  justice,  and  goodness  of  God,  and  we  appre- 
hend it  is  not,  because  men  do  not  agree  as  to  just  what 
it  ought  to  be,  or  in  what  it  should  consist  beforehand, 
that  is,  before  it  is  given,  will  not  be  regarded  as  a  very 
formidable  objection  to  it  by  well-balanced  minds,  and 
their  faith  is  not  likely  to  be  shaken  by  such  objections. 
The  objection  that  it  is  not  universal,  that  is,  was  not 
given  to  all  men  at  the  same  time,  and  therefore  not  of 
God,  is  without  force.  In  the  first  place,  the  objector 
fails  to  note  the  fact  that  the  special  revelation  which 
the  Bible  professes  to  contain,  claims  to  have  been  given 
originally  to  all  men,  but  "as  man  refused  to  retain  God, 
in  his  knowledge  God  gave  him  up  to  a  reprobate  mind.'' 
Moreover,  the  same  objection  might,  with  equal  force, 


14 


Apologetics 


Claims  for 
Special 
Revelation 
Considered. 


be  urged  by  the  ignorantly  skeptical  against  the  truths 
of  science,  because  their  light  does  not  shine  out  of  the 
sky  with  equal  clearness  to  all  men  at  the  same  time. 
Who  would  regard  as  a  valid  objection  against  the  effi- 
ciency of  a  medicine  the  fact  that  its  virtues  as  such  were 
a  recent  discovery  and  not  equally  known  to  all,  and 
all  equally  benefited  by  it?  But  the  fact  that  genius  is 
not  the  gift  of  all,  and  the  blessings  of  science  are  not 
alike  shared  by  all,  is  no  valid  objection  against  the 
truths  of  science  or  the  gift  of  genius.  Nor  will  objec- 
tions based  upon  difference  of  opinion  among  men  as  to 
what  the  effect  of  a  special  revelation  upon  mankind 
would  be,  or  should  be,  have  much  weight  with  the  ear- 
nest inquirer  after  truth. 

But  if  the  record  of  what  claims  to  be  a  special  revela- 
tion does  not  contain  what  it  professes,  and  its  effects 
upon  mankind  are  other  than  it  professes,  or  the  opposite 
of  what  it  teaches,  in  whole  or  in  part,  then  its  high 
claims  of  a  revelation  from  God  may  be  justly  ques- 
tioned, yea,  rejected.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  when  its 
records  have  been  subjected  to  just  criticism,  and  they 
are  found  to  contain  all  they  claim,  and  its  effects  upon 
men  are  in  accord  with  its  teachings,  and  these  teach- 
ings are  wise,  just,  and  good,  then  its  claim  as  a  special 
revelation,  to  say  the  least,  becomes  highly  probable,  and 
must  have  great  weight  with  right  reason. 

7.  If,  then,  a  special  revelation  has  been  given  to 
man,  it  must  be  contained  either  in  the  so-called  sacred 
books  among  the  religions  of  paganism  or  in  the  Bible, 
which  is  the  sacred  book  among  Christians.  But  the 
student  who  carefully  examines  either  the  Vedas  of  Brara 


A  Revelation  15 

or  the  Koran  of  Mohammed,  or  any  other  of  the  sacred 
books  of  the  world's  religions,  other  than  the  Bible,  will 
be  convinced  that  their  claim  is  without  foundation  in 
truth,  and  in  no  true  sense  compares  with  the  grounds  of 
claim  upon  which  the  Holy  Scriptures  rest. 

Heathenism  is  old,  and  its  religions  are  the  products 
of  what  it  claimed  them  to  be,  special  revelation;  but 
who,  in  this  closing  decade  of  the  best  century  of  all 
ages,  as  he  surveys  the  religious  condition  of  the  whole 
of  paganism  at  the  present  hour,  could  say,  in  the  light 
of  reason,  that  from  its  fruits  it  is  entitled  to  any  claims 
whatever  as  a  revelation  from  God?     With  its  human 
sacrifices  and  its  dark  orgies  for  a  period  of  not  less 
than  five  thousand  years,  it  presents  its  victims  in  a 
condition  the  most  degraded  and  forlorn  possible,  except 
one,  and  that  would  be  the  victims  of  no  religion  at  all. 
But  it  is  readily  admitted  that  here  and  there  a  bright 
spot  lingers  on  its  dark  record,  yet  these  may  be  traced 
to  points  in  its  history  where  it  came  in  touch,  di- 
rectly or  indirectly,  with  that  Word  which  God  spoke 
out  of  heaven  to  Moses  and  the  prophets,  Christ  and  his 
apostles,  as  promulgated  by  his  people.    From  its  open- 
ing page  to  the  nineteenth  century's  closing  decade  its 
history  has  been  one  of  sorrow  and  degradation.    Take 
its  statutes,  nation  by  nation,  on  the  subject  of  morals 
and  the  family  or  home,  and,  as  a  rule,  they  are  dark  as 
perdition.    By  the  laws  of  Lycurgus,  chastity  was  con- 
demned, and  infanticide  was  sanctioned.    Solon,  the  law- 
giver of  Athens,  was  no  better  than  Lycurgus,  for  he 
legalized  adultery.    The  orgies  at  the  temple  of  Venus 
at  Corinth  were  as  at  Venus  of  Babylon.    The  Midian 


16  Apologetics 

woman  who  had  less  than  five  husbands  was  looked  upon 
by  the  law  with  contempt.  Under  pagan  sanction,  pagan 
mothers  performed  the  religious  rite  of  sacrificing  their 
children  to  Moloch,  whose  mouths  were  seven,  which  led 
to  seven  flaming  furnaces  within.  The  Persians  buried 
their  children  alive,  according  to  Herodotus.  To  Juno's 
shrine  on  the  height  of  Hierapolis  came  pagan  mothers 
in  sorrowing  crowds  and  flung  their  weeping  children 
forth  from  the  mountain's  brow  to  be  dashed  to  pieces 
on  crags  below.  Should  what  history  records  be  an  as- 
tonishment, that  "the  feet  of  pagan  women,  hastening  in 
despair,  wore  smooth  the  rocks  up  the  rugged  sides  of  the 
promontories  of  Taygetus  and  Tsenarum,  from  the  sum- 
mits of  which  they  flung  themselves  down  to  death  in 
the  depths  of  the  Laconian  Sea  ?"  Says  Justin,  speaking 
of  primitive  rites  and  superstitions,  "They  immolated 
men  as  victims ;  and  children,  whose  tender  years  excited 
the  pity  even  of  enemies,  they  placed  upon  their  altars, 
purchasing  peace  of  the  gods  by  the  blood  of  those  for 
whose  life  the  gods  were  accustomed  principally  to  be 
implored."^  Diodorus,  in  speaking  of  the  Carthagenians, 
consuming  their  children  in  honor  of  Saturn,  because 
they  supposed  they  had  offended  him  by  restraining  their 
human  sacrifices,  says,  "Therefore,  that  they  might  cor- 
rect their  errors  without  delay,  they  immolated  in  public 
sacrifice  two  hundred  chosen  boys  of  their  principal  no- 
bility."* Like  customs  and  religious  rites  are  practiced 
even  at  the  present  time  by  the  pagan  races  almost 
around  the  world.     China,  India,  Hindustan,  and  Af- 

•.TlwUnHlst  Lib.  18,  chap.  6.       'Did.    Sec.  Lib.  20. 


A  llevelation  17 

rica  are  living  examples  of  the  horrors  and  superstitions 
of  heathenism.  It  may  be  said  in  truth  that  no  well- 
informed  people  henceforth  will  recognize  the  sacred 
books  of  paganism  as  of  divine  authority  and  worthy  of 
man's  recognition  as  such. 

Socrates  and  Plato,  as  were  the  sages  both  of  India 
and  China,  were  bright  spots  which  loomed  up  on  the 
dark  dial  of  pagan  night;  but  it  must  not  be  forgotten 
that  all  were  younger  than  Abraham  and  Moses,  and 
some  of  them  at  least,  aye,  the  greatest  of  them,  were 
born  after  the  death  of  David,  Solomon,  and  Isaiah. 
Plato  painted  his  picture  of  "the  good  man  who  was  to 
come,"  and  Socrates  expected  a  legislator  who  would  re- 
veal the  will  of  Deity  to  the  mind  of  man,  but  before 
either  of  them  was  born,  Isaiah  had  written  his  marvel- 
ous chapter  on  the  advent  and  sufferings  of  our  Lord. 
What  access  these  masters  of  antiquity  had  to  writings 
of  the  Hebrew  sages  we  do  not  know,  but  we  do  know 
that  the  queen  of  the  south  "  came  from  the  uttermost 
parts  of  the  earth  to  hear  the  wisdom  of  Solomon,"  and 
that  Plato  acknowledged  his  acquaintance  with  Mussel- 
man,  a  Jew,  from  whom,  he  states,  "he  and  his  com- 
pany," while  on  their  way  to  Egypt,  "received  much 
more  information  than  they  were  able  to  impart  to  the 
Jew."  It  is  a  fact  admitted  that  the  God  of  the  Bible, 
under  Solomon  the  great  king,  built  his  temple  at  Jeru- 
salem, which  served  as  a  mighty  Pharos  to  the  pagan 
world.  Then,  with  our  eyes  turned  to  the  Bible,  we 
commence  to  investigate  its  claims  of  divine  origin. 


The  Bible  a 


CHAPTEE  II. 

'Authenticity  of  the  Holy  Sceiptures. 

The  Bible,  of  all  books,  is  the  most  strange,  the  most 
wonderful.     The  dignity  of  its  composition,  its  age, 
and  the  important  nature  of  the  subjects  treated  in  its 
Wonderful     pages,  all,  all  are  wonderful.    It  comes  not  to  man  teach- 
°°  *  ing  of  God  only,  nor  does  it  limit  its  teachings  to  com- 

mands, precepts,  doctrines,  and  ordinances,  but  it 
abounds,  also,  in  human  history,  both  of  individuals 
and  nations;  and  no  other  book  so  faithfully  delineates 
the  silent,  secret  workings  of  the  human  soul.  The 
Bible  at  once  introduces  its  reader  to  the  infinite,  car- 
ries him  back  through  the  historic  period  of  the  hu- 
man race,  and  backward  still  through  the  rock-written 
history  of  the  dead  ages  to  the  very  dawn  of  creation, 
and  lays  open  to  him  the  foundations  of  religion,  mo- 
rality, and  truth.  It  then  carries  him  forward  into  the 
mysterious,  unknown  future,  and  unfolds  to  him  a 
sphere  of  life  where  matter  obtains  not,  and,  by  an 
inscrutable  mystery,  the  bodies  of  the  redeemed  are 
etherealized  into  spirit — a  realm  of  higher  realities, 
where  the  things  of  sense  are  but  fleeting  shadows,  and 
God  dwells  in  the  presence  of  his  happy  children. 
The  Bible  is  composed  of  two  testaments,  the  Old 
Two  and  the  New,  which  two  constitute  the  Holy  Scriptures, 

Testaments,   ^nd  comprise  the  entire  foundation  of  religious  belief 

18 


Authenticity  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  19 

of  both  Jew  and  Christian.    The  former  is  esteemed  es- 
sential by  the  Jews,  but  both  by  the  Christians. 

The  Scriptures,  then,  become  a  subject  of  vital  im- 
portance when  thus  considered,  not  to  the  believer  only, 
but  to  the  unbeliever  also;  for  if  the  Bible  be  an  au- 
thentic book,  too  high  an  estimate  cannot  be  put  upon 
its  doctrines  and  teachings.  Are  these  Scriptures  au- 
thentic ?  that  is,  do  "they  relate  matters  of  fact  as  they 
really  happened"  ?  The  discussion  of  this  question  will, 
constitute  the  subject  matter  in  these  pages. 

Authenticity  of  the  Scriptures. 

In  answering  the  above  question,  it  is  necessary  to 
examine,  first,  into  the  reality,  the  age,  and  the  actions  Metiiod  and 
of  the  leading  persons  mentioned  in  the  Scriptures,  as  tha  inquiry, 
the  instruments  used  in  giving  tliis  revelation  to  the 
world,  and  then  some  of  the  more  important  events  re- 
corded. 

1.  No  part  of  the  Scriptures  can  be  traced  to  the 
perversions  or  misapprehensions  of  the  human  imagina- 
tion, nor  can  its  theology  be  resolved  into  a  mistaken 
history,  a  corruption  of  names,  or  a  puerile  allegory. 
The  student  who  seriously  studies  the  Bible  and  the 
religion  of  its  adherents,  will  find  them  totally  different 
from  the  sacred  books  and  religions  of  the  peoples  by 
whom  these  believers  were  surrounded.  By  a  succession  origin  of 
of  revelations  a  "knowledge  of  the  one  true  God"  was  ^^^ 
ever  kept  prominently  before  them.  Every  intervention 
of  paganism  was  set  aside  by  some  miraculous  power. 
Although  human  reason  in  an  uncultivated  state  is  ever 
wont  to  tire  of  the  abstract  and  metaphysical  notions  of 


20  Apologetics 

the  divine  attributes,  yet  by  these  children  of  the  Most 
High  they  were  always  regarded  with  veneration.  He 
is  represented  as  infinite,  eternal,  invisible,  unchange- 
able, omnipotent,  omniscient,  and  omnipresent,  a  God 
who  corresponds  not  to  any  of  "the  heathen  deities." 
This  venerable  volume,  under  the  above  title,  consisting 
of  sixty-six  independent  books,  purports  to  have  been 
written  by  many  different  authors,  extending  over  a 
period  of  fifteen  hundred  to  two  thousand  years.  The 
Old  Testament,  which  is  composed  of  thirty-nine  books, 
claims  to  contain  the  first  revelation  of  God  to  man, 
and  was  the  foundation  of  Jewish  institutions.  The 
New  Testament  claims  to  contain  the  last  revelation, 
and  these  Scriptures,  conjointly,  constitute  the  founda- 
tion of  Christian  institutions. 

In  a  brief  treatise  like  this,  it  would  be  impossible  to 
take  up  in  detail  the  different  authors  of  the  books  of 
the  Bible  and  inquire  into  all  the  leading  events  in  bib- 
lical history.  Hence,  we  shall  select  only  the  more  im- 
portant. 

( 1 )  These  records  state  that  Moses  was  the  leader  and 
the  lawgiver  of  the  Jews,  not  less  than  sixteen  hundred 
years  before  the  Christian  era,  and  the  author  of  their 
religious  institutions;  that  Jesus  Christ  is  the  Son  of 
God  and  the  Saviour  of  the  world ;  that  he  lived  during 
the  reign  of  Augustus  Caesar,  having  been  born  in  the 
days  of  Herod,  and  was  put  to  death  by  Pontius  Pilate, 
procurator  of  Judea,  in  the  reign  of  Tiberius  Caesar. 
The  patient  truth-seeker,  on  investigating  this  subject, 
finds  ample  proof  to  justify  him  in  believing  the  above 
historic  facts. 


Authenticity  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  21 

(a)  For  a  period  of  almost  four  thousand  years  those 
best  qualified  to  judge  have  harmonized  in  the  opinion 
that  Moses  was  the  legislator  of  the  Jews,  the  author 
of  their  religious  institutions,  and  led  them  out  of 
Egypt.  The  Jewish  church,  from  its  remotest  antiquity, 
has  ascribed  the  Pentateuch  to  Moses,  and  to  no  other 
hand.  The  Christian  church,  from  its  foundation,  with- 
out a  dissenting  voice,  has  recognized  it  as  the  work  of  Scriptures. 
the  Jewish  lawgiver.  The  traditional  and  national  his- 
tory of  the  Jews  rests  upon  this  ground,  and  is  evi- 
denced by  the  beliefs  and  teachings  of  that  singular  peo- 
ple at  the  present,  as  they  are  scattered  among  all  na- 
tions upon  the  face  of  the  earth.  Indeed,  this  is  cer- 
tain, that  "the  very  same  principles  of  historical  evi- 
dence which  assure  us  of  the  truth  of  any  unquestioned 
fact  of  profane  history  assure  us  of  the  truth  of  this." 
That  the  Jews  existed  as  a  nation  very  anciently  can- 
not be  denied,  and  that  early  in  their  history  they  were 
systematically  organized  into  a  government,  their  own 
writings  abundantly  testify.  That  this  work  of  sys- 
tematic organization,  this  leading  them  out  of  Egypt, 
and  establishing  them  as  a  nation,  with  laws  and  a 
religion,  must  have  been  the  work  of  some  great,  com- 
manding spirit,  a  reasonable  mind  will  not  doubt.  The 
Jews,  in  harmony  with  their  historical  records,  affirm 
that  Moses  was  this  commanding  spirit,  who  not  only 
led  them  out  of  Egypt  and  for  forty  years  through  a 
desert  of  sand,  but  also  organized  them  into  a  nation 
and  engrafted  upon  them  laws  and  a  religion  which 
have  kept  them  a  distinct  people  for  more  than  forty 
stormy  centuries. 


22 


Apologetics 


(h)  But  aside  from  Jewish  records  and  Christian  tes- 
timony, the  most  respectable  heathen  writers  witness  to 
the  same  facts.  Josephus,  in  his  first  book  against 
Apion,  quotes  Manetho,  of  Egypt,  as  giving  an  account 
of  the  time,  the  manner,  and  very  many  of  the  principal 
events  that  obtained  during  the  sojourn  of  the  Jews  in 
his  country.  The  same  author  also  quotes  Cheremon, 
Apolonius,  and  Lysimachus  as  witnessing  to  the  same 
facts.  Justin,  a  Roman  historian,  in  his  abridgement 
of  Trogus  Pompeius  (Book  36,  chapter  2),  makes 
mention  of  the  origin  of  the  Jews  from  the  ten  tribci 
of  Israel ;  speaks  of  the  "beauty  of  Moses,"  and  declares 
him  to  be  the  "commander  of  the  Jews  who  went  out  of 
Egypt";  of  the  "institution  of  the  Sabbath"  and  the 
priesthood  of  Aaron. 

"The  Orphic  Verses,"  supposed  to  be  a  thousand  years 
older  than  our  era,  teach  the  worship  of  one  God  as  com- 
manded by  that  law,  "which  was  given  by  him  who  was 
drawn  out  of  the  water  and  received  two  tables  of  stone 
from  the  hand  of  God."  Trogus  Pompeius,  a  Eoman, 
and  author  of  a  universal  history,  who  lived  in  the  Au- 
gustinian  age,  says,  according  to  Justin,  "But  the  Egyp- 
tians .  .  .  expelled  Moses  and  the  diseased  from 
the  borders  of  Egypt." 

Diodorus  Siculus,  in  his  first  book,  in  speaking  of 
those  nations  which  claimed  to  have  received  their  laws 
from  God,  adds,  "Among  the  Jews  was  Moses,  who 
called  God  by  the  name  of  lao."  Tacitus  declares  that 
"Moses  gave  a  new  form  of  worship  to  the  Jews  and  a 
system  of  religious  ceremonies  the  reverse  of  everything 
known  to  any  age  or  country."    The  distinguished  Greek 


Authenticity  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  i{3 

historian  and  geographer,  Strabo,  born  during  the  cen- 
tury before  Christ,  and  who  traveled  through  Greece, 
Italy,  Egypt,  and  Asia,  that  he  might  obtain  a  correct 
knowledge  of  the  geography  and  facts  of  history  of  these 
countries  he  visited,  "gives  an  account  of  the  laws  of 
Moses  as  forbidding  images  and  limiting  divine  worship 
to  one  invisible  and  universal  Being."^ 

Josephus,  in  his  criticisms  on  Apion,  or  rather  Man- 
etho,  after  quoting  Manetho,  adds,  in  substance,  "Two 
things  are  evident  from  Manetho's  account;  first,  that 
the  Jews  came  from  another  country  to  Egypt;  second, 
that  they  left  Egypt  again,  and  that,  nearly  a  thousand 
years  before  the  Trojan  war."  He  again  quotes  Man- 
etho as  saying,  "That  priest  who  settled  their  polity  and 
their  laws  [the  Jews],  he  was  by  birth  of  Heliopolis,  and 
his  name  was  Osarsiph,  from  Osiris,  the  god  of  Heliopo- 
lis, but  he  changed  his  name  and  called  himself  Moses." 

Many  more  ancient  authorities  might  be  cited  to  es- 
tablish the  existence,  the  age,  and  the  actions  of  the  Jew- 
ish lawgiver,  but  the  testimony  already  adduced  makes 
it  clear  that  Moses  was  as  commonly  so  regarded  among 
the  ancient  nations  as  among  the  Jews  themselves. 

2.  As  to  the  history  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  testimony  ^f^^^. 
is  even  more  satisfactory  and  abundant  than  that  in  re- 
spect to  Moses.  In  the  very  nature  of  things,  this  would 
be  so.  The  age  in  which  he  lived  is  comparatively  mod- 
ern and  peculiarly  historic.  The  age  of  Greek  litera- 
ture had  passed,  and  Grecian  civilization  had  culmi- 
nated more  than  three  hundred  years  before  Christ  was 

»  Geography  1:  16. 


24 


Apologetics 


TsBtimony 
of  tiie 
Churcli 
Fatliers. 


born.  The  Eoman  empire  was  in  its  Augustiniau  age, 
with  its  temple  of  Janus  closed,  and  at  peace  with  tlie 
world.  It  was  an  age  well  fitted  for  thought  and  rigid 
investigation;  hence  the  witnesses  are  many.  The  four 
Gospels  contain  the  history  of  Christ's  advent,  his  so- 
journ, teaching,  death,  and  resurrection.  They  def- 
initely state  the  age  in  which  these  events  occurred,  and 
name  the  then  ruling  sovereigns  of  liome  and  Judea — 
Caesar  Augustus  and  Herod,  Tiberius  and  Pilate,  the 
two  former  at  his  birth,  the  two  latter  at  his  death. 

(1)  To  the  facts  thus  recorded  in  the  Gospels,  the 
church  which  now  is,  and  has  ever  been  from  the  time  of 
its  organization  by  Christ  and  his  apostles,  as  history 
witnesses,  bears  abundant  testimony.  The  well  authenti- 
cated writings  of  Barnabas,  Clement,  Hermas,  Polycarp, 
and  Ignatius  have  reached  our  day.  These  men  were 
contemporary  with  the  apostles,  and  the  three  first 
named  are  mentioned  by  name  in  the  New  Testament, 
the  fourth  was  a  disciple  of  St.  John,  and  the  fifth  dis- 
coursed not  unfrequently  with  the  apostles  of  our  Lord. 
Their  writings  abound  in  Scripture  quotations  to  a  de- 
gree that  scarcely  is  there  a  book  in  the  New  Testament 
not  quoted  or  alluded  to  by  one  or  the  other  of  these 
writers.  More  than  two  hundred  and  twenty  quotations 
and  allusions  to  the  Scriptures  are  found  in  their  writ- 
ings, although  but  little  of  their  work  is  now  extant. 

In  the  second  century,  at  Carthage,  lived  Tertullian, 
a  learned  man,  and  a  writer  vigorous  in  defense  of 
Christianity.  Dr.  Lardner  says  of  his  writings,  "There 
are  more  and  longer  quotations  of  the  small  volume  of 
the  New  Testament  in  this  one  Christian  author  than  of 


Authenticity  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  25 

all  the  work  of  Cicero  in  the  writers  of  every  character 
for  several  ages."  Irenseus  and  Clement  of  Alexandria 
were  of  this  century,  and  writers  in  the  defense  of  Chris- 
tianity. Irenaeus  quotes  from  Ephesians  5 :  30,  "For 
we  are  members  of  his  body,  of  his  flesh,  and  of  his 
bones."  Clement  writes,  "The  blessed  Paul  in  the  first 
epistles  to  the  Corinthians  says,  'Be  not  children  in  un- 
derstanding.' "  Justin  Martyr  flourished  in  this  cen- 
tury. He  was  of  heathen  parents,  and  studied  in  the 
different  schools  of  the  philosophers  in  his  day,  but 
became  a  convert  to  Christianity.  He  also  wrote  many 
works  in  the  defense  of  Cliristianity.  He  gives  his  tes- 
timony to  "the  genuine  and  authentic  accounts  of  Jesus 
Christ  and  his  doctrine,"  as  contained  in  the  four  Gos- 
pels. He  also  affirms  that  the  Book  of  Revelation  was 
written  by  John,  "one  of  the  apostles  of  Christ."  In. 
the  third  century  lived  and  flourished  Origen,  about  the 
year  230.  He  is  represented  by  Jerome  as  the  most  dis- 
tinguished doctor  of  the  church  since  the  apostles,  had 
the  Scriptures  by  heart,  and  his  labors  were  most  abun- 
dant in  studying  and  explaining  them.  His  writings 
against  Celsus,  an  Epicurean  philosopher,  and  an  enemy 
to  Christianity,  are  well  known  to  the  church.  Diony- 
sius  of  Alexandria,  Victorinus,  a  bishop  of  Germany, 
and  Cyprian,  a  bishop  of  Carthage,  all  wrote  able  de- 
fenses of  the  Christian  religion,  in  which  they  have 
quoted  passages  from  almost  every  book  in  the  New  Tes- 
tament. So  copious  are  the  quotations  of  the  writers 
of  the  second  and  third  centuries,  that  if  the  New  Testa- 
ment were  lost,  a  copy  of  it,  complete,  might  almost  be 
collected  from  their  writings. 


Apologetics 


Testimony 
of  Heathen 
Writers 
Regarding 
cnrist. 


(2)  But  the  enemies  of  Christ,  as  well  as  his  friends, 
give  testimony  to  these  historic  facts.  Tacitus,  in  his 
"Annals"  (15-44),  says:  "JSTero  put  those  who  com- 
monly went  by  the  name  of  Christians  to  the  most  ex- 
quisite tortures.  The  author  of  this  name  was  Christ, 
who  was  capitally  punished  in  the  reign  of  Tiberius,  by 
Pontius  Pilate,  the  procurator." 

Suetonius,  secretary  to  Trojan,  and  the  author  of  the 
"Lives  of  the  Twelve  Caesars,"  states  that  "in  the  time 
of  Claudius,  the  Jews  were  making  a  disturbance  at 
Pome,  Christ  being  their  leader."  Cerinthus,  a  Jew  and 
a  noted  heretic  of  the  first  century,  is  cited  by  Irenseus 
as  teaching  that  "Jesus  was  not  born  of  a  virgin,  but  of 
Joseph  and  IMary,  and  at  the  time  of  his  baptism  the 
Christ  descended  from  'that  principality  which  is  over 
air  in  the  form  of  a  dove." 

Porphyry,  an  early  opponent  of  the  Christian  faith, 
and  author  of  fifteen  books  against  Christianity,  wit- 
nesses for  Christ  by  stating  that  "after  Jesus  was  wor- 
shiped, Esculapius  and  the  other  gods  did  no  more 
converse  with  men."  He  was  well  acquainted  with  the 
church  in  his  day,  and  in  his  writings  makes  frequent 
reference  not  only  to  the  Gospels  of  ]\Iatthew,  Mark,  and 
John,  but  also  to  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  and  the  epistle 
to  the  Galatians.^ 

Julian,  who  succeeded  Constanlius  to  the  empire  in 
361,  wrote  a  work  against  Christians,  in  which  there  is 
valuable  testimony  to  the  history  of  Christianity,  and 
the  authenticity  of  tiie  New  Testament.  He  states  that 
Jesus  was  born  in  the  reign  of  Augustus  Caesar,  at  the 


•Lardner,  VoL  IV.,  page  234. 


Authenticity  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  27 

time  Cyrenius  levied  a  tax  on  Judea,  and  assigns  the 
time  of  the  beginning  and  propagation  of  Christianity 
to  the  reign  of  Tiberius  and  Claudius.  He  quotes 
Matthew,  Mark,  Luke,  and  John,  and  the  Acts  of  the 
Apostles  as  the  historical  books  received  by  the  Chris- 
tians as  of  authority,  and  "the  only  authentic  memoirs 
of  Jesus  Christ  and  his  apostles  and  the  doctrine 
preached  by  them.'"'  While  Julian  aclcnowledges  that 
Christ  and  his  disciples  performed  many  wonderful 
works,  such  as  restoring  sight  to  the  blind,  healing  the 
lame,  casting  out  demons,  walking  upon  the  sea,  and 
stilling  the  waves;  and  that  multitudes  of  all  classes  in 
Greece  and  Italy,  even  before  John  wrote  his  Gospel, 
flocked  to  the  standard  of  the  cross,  he,  nevertheless, 
strives  zealously  to  diminish  not  only  the  number  of  the 
converts,  but  their  quality,  also.  The  spirit  mani- 
fested by  him  throughout  his  entire  treatise  against 
Christianity  is  one  of  spite  and  bitter  hatred.  Most  in- 
dignantly he  mentions  Peter  and  Paul,  and  in  the  same 
spirit  he  vainly  sought  to  give  the  lie  to  the  Galilean, 
by  attempting  to  restore  the  Jews  to  Jerusalem.  Pliny, 
the  younger,  distinguished  as  an  orator,  historian,  and 
statesman,  born  at  Como,  in  A.  D.  61  or  62,  says  that 
"Christ  was  worshiped  as  a  god  among  the  Christians; 
that  they  would  rather  suffer  death  than  blaspheme  him ; 
that  they  received  a  sacrament,  and  by  it  entered  into  a 
vow  of  abstaining  from  sin  and  wickedness,  conforming 
to  the  advice  of  Paul ;  that  they  had  private  assemblies 
of  worship,  and  used  to  sing  together  in  hymns."^ 

»Pliny  Epist.  lib.  10. 


28  Apologetics 

Celsus  flourished  in  the  year  176.  He  was  a  man  of 
letters,  and  is  regarded  as  an  eminent  philosopher  among 
modern  skeptics.  His  arguments  against  the  Christians 
were  labored  and  able.  His  testimony  cannot  be  rejected 
as  deficient  in  antiquity,  nor  can  any  one  accuse  him 
of  a  want  of  zeal  to  overthrow  Cliristianity.  A  man  of 
his  genius,  industry,  and  learning  must  have  known  if 
there  were  anything  spurious  in  the  authorship  of  the 
New  Testament  writings. 

Origen,  in  his  answer  to  the  arguments  of  this  learned 
opponent  of  Christianity,  enumerates  about  eighty  pas- 
sages from  the  New  Testament,  or  references  to  them, 
quoted  by  Celsus.  These  quotations  evidence  that  he 
was  acquainted  with  the  Gospels  of  Luke,  Matthew,  and 
John,  and  also  several  of  the  epistles  of  Paul.  He  con- 
cedes throughout  his  argument  that  the  Christian  Scrip- 
tures were  the  work  of  their  purported  authors,  and  not 
a  scintillation  of  suspicion  to  the  contrary  is  anywhere 
apparent.  In  the  language  of  Dr.  Doddridge,  "Who  can 
forbear  adoring  the  depths  of  divine  wisdom  in  laying 
up  suoh  a  firm  foundation  of  our  faith  in  the  gospel 
history,  in  the  writings  of  one  who  was  so  inveterate 
an  enemy  to  it,  and  so  indefatigable  in  his  attempts  to 
overthrow  it  ?" 

One  more  noted  opponent  to  Christianity  we  mention 
in  this  connection.  It  is  Ilicrocles,  the  man  who  set 
up  the  reputed  miracles  of  ApoUonius  Tyranaeus  to  off- 
set the  miracles  of  Christ,  which  he  did  not  deny.  He 
was  a  learned  man,  and  Avrote  two  books  against  Chris- 
tianity. He  refers  to  the  Gospels  and  the  two  epistles 
and  mentions  Peter  and  Paul  by  name.    The  testimony 


Authenticity  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  29 

of  this  author  clearly  establishes  three  facts :  first,  that 
the  Scriptures  were  then  in  existence;  second,  that 
Christianity  as  an  institution  then  existed;  and  third, 
that  Christ  was  its  author. 

Dr.  Lardner  says  of  these  authors,  "They  bear  a  fuller 
and  more  valuable  testimony  to  the  books  of  the  New 
Testament,  and  to  the  facts  of  evangelical  history,  and 
to  the  affairs  of  Christianity  than  all  our  other  witnesses 
besides."  Dr.  Paley  adds,  in  effect,  "These  witnesses 
prove  that  neither  Celsus  in  the  second.  Porphyry  in  the 
third,  nor  Julian  in  the  fourth  century  suspected  the 
authenticity  of  these  books,  or  even  insinuated  that 
Christians  were  mistaken  in  the  authors  to  whom  they 
ascribed  them."  And  it  may  be  added,  can  any  reason- 
able mind  demand  more  and  stronger  proof  to  the  truth 
of  the  facts  claimed  by  the  Scriptures  than  that  in  Ce- 
rinthus,  Celsus,  Porphyry,  Hierocles,  and  Julian,  all  of 
whom  were  learned  controversialists  as  well  as  devout 
opponents  and  persecutors  of  Christians,  except  Cerin- 
thus,  their  testimony  extending  from  the  first  century  to 
the  year  361  of  our  Lord? 

3.     Now  by  examining  the  catalogues  of  Josephus  and  OM 
Philo,  the  Samaritan  Pentateuch,  and  the  Septuagint   Eegardtd 
version,  we  have  ample  proof  that  the  books  of  the  Old  5*®''** 
Testament,  which  we  regard  as  sacred,  were  so  regarded 
by  the  Jews  long  before,  and  at  the  time  of  the  advent. 

(1)  Philo,  the  Jew,  according  to  C.  Segford,  must 
have  had  the  same  books  that  we  have,  for  he  quotes 
from  almost  all  of  them.  But  the  most  satisfactory  wit- 
ness on  this  point  is  Josephus.  In  his  criticisms  on 
Apion  (1.  8),  he  says:    "For  we  have  not  an  innumer- 


Before 
Gbrlst. 


WltneM  of 
Jotephns. 


30  Apologetics 

able  multitude  of  books  among  us,  .  .  .  but  only 
twenty-two  books,  which  contain  the  record  of  all  the 
past  times,  which  are  justly  divine.  And  of  them  five 
belong  to  Moses,  which  contain  his  laws  and  the  tradi- 
tion of  the  origin  of  mankind  till  his  death.  .  .  . 
The  prophets  who  were  after  Moses  WTote  down  what  was 
done  in  their  time  in  thirteen  books.  The  remaining 
four  books  contain  hymns  to  God  and  precepts  for  the 
conduct  of  business  life."  Xow,  when  we  take  into  ac- 
count that  Josephus  follows  the  custom  of  the  Alexan- 
drian Jews  in  enumerating  his  catalogue,  we  find  that 
his  custom  is  identical  with  ours;  that  is,  he  adds  Euth 
to  Judges  and  Lamentations  to  Jeremiah. 

_,^  (2)  The  Samaritan  Pentateuch  is  so  nearly  identical 

Samaritan  ^  ,  *^ 

Pentateuch,   with  the  Jewish  that  it  is  evident  the  former  is  a  copy 

of  the  latter.  The  Jews  and  Samaritans  have  been  at 
enmity  from  antiquity;  both  are  the  descendants  of 
Abraham,  and  alike  claim  Closes  as  their  lawgiver  and 
author  of  the  Pentateuch.  They  have  ever  watched  each 
other  with  a  jealous  eye,  and  both  alike  have  watched  the 
Christian  church;  but  the  Pentateuch  with  the  Clu'is- 
tian,  the  Jew,  and  the  Samaritan  is  the  same.  Hence, 
the  forceful  evidence  that  no  change  has  been  made  in 
this  sacred  document,  at  least,  since  the  time  the  Samari- 
tans received  their  copy,  either  from  the  ten  tribes,  whom 
they  succeeded,  as  an  inheritance,  or  from  the  priest  who 
came  and  "dwelt  at  Bethel  and  taught  them  how  they 
should  fear  the  Lord," 

(3)  The  Septuagint  version  is  an  important  factor  in 
Version  a  establishing  the  authenticity  of  the  Old  Testament,  for 
witneBB.        it  is  the  most  important  and  the  oldest  complete  trans- 


Authenticity  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  31 

lation  of  the  Scriptures  in  any  language.  This  Greek 
version,  especially  the  five  books  of  Moses,  dates  not 
later  than  two  hundred  and  eighty  years  before  Christ. 
The  other  books  of  the  Hebrew  canon  followed  in  trans- 
lation, and  the  entire  version  was  completed  not  later 
than  the  middle  of  the  second  century  B.  C.  This  ver- 
sion, containing  the  sacred  canon  of  the  Jews,  as  ac- 
knowledged and  used,  at  least  by  the  Alexandrian  Jews, 
evidences  the  fact  that,  for  a  period  of  one  hundred  and 
fifty  years  prior  to  the  Advent,  the  Jewish  Scriptures 
were  complete  as  we  have  them  now. 

That  Ezra,  after  the  exile,  collected  the  sacred  books 
of  the  Hebrews  as  now  recognized  by  Jews  and  Chris- 
tians, except  the  books  of  Malachi  and  Ezra,  is  a  fact 
that  has  scarcely  been  questioned ;  and  shortly  after  the 
Maccabsean  persecution  the  Old  Testament  appears  as 
a  whole. 

Also,  as  Dr.  Philip  Schaff  says  in  his  "Companion  to 
the  Greek  Testament,"  page  23,  "It  is  a  remarkable  fact, 
not  yet  sufficiently  explained,  that  the  great  majority  of 
the  citations  of  the  Old  Testament  in  the  New,  which 
amount  to  about  280,  are  taken  from  the  Septuagint,  or 
at  all  events  agree  better  with  it  than  with  the  Hebrew 
original." 

The  Christian  church  has  always  received  the  Old 
Testament  as  authentic,  and  the  first  revelation  of  God 
to  man.  To  this  effect  it  received  the  endorsement  of 
Christ  and  his  apostles.  More  than  two  hundred  quota- 
tions from  the  Old  Testament  are  made  by  the  writers 
of  the  New,  which  surely  they  would  not  have  made  had 
they  suspected  anything  spurious  or  unauthentic  in  these 
Scriptures. 


32  Apologetics 

4.  As  to  the  New  Testament :  The  books  which  now 
compose  it  are  the  same  as  those  placed  in  the  sacred 
canon  by  the  church  fathers.  Besides  the  many,  many 
quotations  by  the  apostolic  fathers  and  their  immediate 
successors,  not  less  than  eleven  distinct,  formal  cata- 
logues, comprising  the  present  books  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment, were  formed,  and  two  of  them  by  the  highest  coun- 
cils of  the  church.  These  catalogues  are  now  extant. 
The  Assyrian  Bible  contains  the  four  Gospels,  the  Acts, 
fourteen  Pauline  epistles,  the  epistles  of  James,  I.  Peter, 
and  I.  John.  This  collection  is  surely  not  later  than 
the  beginning  of  the  third  century,  and  was,  at  that  time, 
the  canon  of  that  part  of  the  church. 

"The  Muratorian  Fragment,"  which  dates  not  later 
than  the  last  quarter  of  the  second  century,  includes  "the 
four  Gospels,  Acts,  thirteen  epistles  of  Paul,  I.  John, 
II.  John,  Jude,  Kevelation  of  St.  John,  and  that  of 
Peter."^ 

It  is  evident  from  the  preceding  statements  that  at 
the  close  of  the  second  century  our  present  New  Testa- 
ment canon  was  complete,  and  had  been,  in  a  fragmen- 
tary form,  unanimously  endorsed  by  the  church,  not- 
withstanding the  canonical  authority  of  some  of  the 
books  had  not  as  yet  been  settled,  and  no  canon  adopted 
in  a  universal  sense. 

About  the  year  315,  Eusebius,  bishop  of  Caesarea, 
formed  a  catalogue  of  the  New  Testament  Scriptures,  in 
which  he  mentioned  all  of  our  present  books.^ 


•Schaff-Herzog  Cyclopedia,  K  R.  K.,  Page  390. 
•Lardner,  Vol.  II.,  page  368. 


Authenticity  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  33 

The  council  of  Laodicea  published  a  catalogue  in  the 
year  360,  differing  from  ours  in  nothing  except  in  the 
omission  of  the  book  of  Hevelation.^ 

Athanasius  and  Cyril,  early  in  the  fourth  century, 
publislied  catalogues  which  agree  with  our  own,  save  in 
the  omission  of  the  Book  of  Revelation  in  the  catalogue 
furnished  by  Cyril. 

The  council  at  Carthage,  which  met  in  the  year  397, 
composed  of  forty-four  bishops,  of  which  Augustine, 
bishop  of  Hippo,  was  a  member,  declared,  "It  is  or- 
dained that  nothing  beside  the  canonical  Scriptures  be 
read  in  the  church  under  the  name  of  divine  Scriptures ; 
and  the  canonical  Scriptures  are  these,"  etc.  The  list 
given  is  identical  with  our  New  Testament  books.^ 

Eufinus,  of  Aquileia,  in  "Explication  of  the  Apostles' 
Creed,"  says,  "It  will  not  be  improper  to  enumerate  here 
the  books  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  which  we 
find  by  the  monuments  of  the  Fathers  to  have  been  de- 
livered to  the  churches  as  inspired  by  the  Holy  Spirit." 
This  list  of  books  is  identical  with  ours.* 

To  these  might  be  added  the  catalogue  of  Epiphanius, 
of  Gregory  Nazianzen,  and  of  Jerome,  with  many  others, 
but  a  sufficient  number  have  been  introduced  to  estab- 
lish the  fact  that  "by  the  year  397  the  canon  of  the  New 
Testament  was  established,"  and-  has  thus  descended  to 
us  in  a  way  that  we  have  the  assurance  that  our  Scrip- 
tures are  those  placed  in  the  sacred  canon  by  the  church, 
fathers. 


*  Lardner,  page  414. 

•Lardner's  "Credential  Gospel  History,"  Vol.  II.,  page 574 

'Lardner,  Vol.  II.,  page  574. 

3 


u 


Apologetics 


Documen- 
tary Evi- 
dence. 


Apology  of 
Arlstldes. 


5.  It  is  well  known  that  Polycarp  was  a  disciple  of 
St.  John,  and  heard  the  apostle,  and  was  the  instructor 
of  Irenaeus.  Irenaeus  attributes  the  four  Gospels  to  the 
apostles,  whom  Polycarp  knew.  His  words  are :  "John 
relates  his  original,  effectual,  and  glorious  generation 
from  the  Father,  thus  declaring,  'In  the  beginning  was 
the  Word,  and  the  Word  was  with  God,  and  the  Word 
was  God.'  Luke  takes  up  his  priestly  character.  .  .  . 
Matthew  again  relates  his  generation  as  a  man,  saying, 
*The  Book  of  the  generation  of  Jesus  the  son  of  David, 
the  son  of  Abraham.'  Mark,  on  the  other  hand,  com- 
mences with  the  prophetical  sjjirit  from  on  high,  say- 
ing, 'The  beginning  of  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ,  as  it 
is  written  in  Esaias,  the  prophet.' " 

But,  in  addition  to  the  evidence  already  adduced,  the 
discoveries  made  within  the  last  quarter  of  the  century 
Just  closed,  are  remarkably  accumulative,  especially  as 
they  relate  to  the  authenticity  of  the  fourth  Gospel, 
about  which  there  has  been  some  question  among  critics. 
The  documents  which  are  of  sj^ecial  interest  are  four, 
namely : 

1.  The  Apology  of  Aristides.  This  was  presented 
to  the  Emperor  Hadrian  at  Athens  in  the  year  125.  The 
following  is  an  extract  from  it :  "The  Christians  reckon 
the  beginning  of  their  religion  from  Jesus  Christ,  who 
is  named  the  Son  of  God  Most  High ;  and  it  is  said  that 
uod  came  down  from  heaven,  and  from  a  Hebrew  virgin 
took  and  clad  himself  with  flesh,  and  in  a  daughter  of 
man  there  dwelt  the  Son  of  God.  This  is  taught  from 
that  gospel  which  a  little  while  ago  was  spoken  among 
them  as  being  preached ;  wherein  if  ye  also  will  read,  ye 


Authenticity  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  35 

will  comprehend  the  power  that  is  upon  it.  This  Jesus, 
then,  was  born  of  the  tribe  of  the  Hebrews,  and  he  had 
twelve  disciples,  in  order  that  a  certain  dispensation  of 
his  might  be  fulfilled.  He  was  pierced  by  the  Jews,  and 
be  died  and  was  buried;  and  they  say  that  after  three 
days  he  rose  and  ascended  to  heaven;  and  then  these 
twelve  disciples  went  forth  into  the  known  parts  of  the 
world  and  taught  concerning  his  greatness  with  all  hu- 
mility and  sobriety.  And  on  this  account  those  also  who 
to-day  believe  in  this  preaching  are  called  Christians, 
who  are  well  known."^  This  apology,  in  a  brief,  terse 
form,  sets  forth  the  teachings  of  the  New  Testament 
Scriptures  as  we  have  them  now  and  were  held  then. 

(2)  The  Diatessaron  of  Tatian.  This  is  a  most 
valuable  document,  as  it  was  intended  to  be  a  harmony 
of  the  four  Gospels.  The  book  was  long  lost.  It  was 
referred  to  by  Eusebius  as  a  "collection  of  the  Gospels,  of^atum!''^ 
called  the  Diatessaron."  Theodoret  says,  "Tatian  also 
composed  a  gospel  called  the  Diatessaron."-  The  same 
author  says,  "I  myself  found  more  than  two  hundred 
such  books  (the  Diatessaron)  held  in  respect  in  the 
churches  of  our  parts."^  The  Diatessaron  belongs  to 
the  early  part  of  the  second  century,  and  puts  the  au- 
thenticity of  the  four  Gospels  to  rest  in  the  minds  of  all 
reasonable  men. 

This  Tatian  was  a  pupil  and  a  disciple  of  Justin 
Martyr,  who  speaks  of,  and  quotes  from  the  "Memoirs 
of  the  Apostles,"  from  which,  there  is  not  ground  for  a 


» Contemporary  Review,  Vol.  LX.,  page  109.    The  Apology  of  Ans- 
tides,  by  George  F.  Stokes. 

»  E.  H.  4 ;  29.    » Fabulse  Hsereticse  1 :  20. 


36  Apologetics 

reasonable  doubt,  his  pupil  composed  his  "Harmony  of 
the  Gospels,"  The  Diatessaron  now  discovered  verifies 
the  correctness  of  these  quotations  claimed  to  have  been 
taken  from  it  by  so  many  different  authors,  and  confirms 
the  description  also  given  of  it  by  later  commentators. 
By  a  critical  comparison  of  this  document  with  the  four 
Gospels,  it  becomes  at  once  manifest  that  Tatian's  Gos- 
pels which  he  had  in  hand  must  have  been  essentially 
the  same  as  the  four  we  have  at  the  present  time. 

(3)  The  newly-discovered  Syriac  Version  of  the  Scrip- 
tures. This  version  was  discovered  in  1892  in  the  Con- 
vent of  St.  Catharine  on  Mt.  Sinai,  by  Mrs.  Lewis  and 
her  sister,  Mrs.  Gibson,  and  contains  the  textual  varia- 
tions found  in  the  Curetonian  Syriac  version,  which 
was  brought,  among  other  manuscripts,  from  the  monas- 
teries in  the  Nitrian  Desert,  in  Lower  Egypt,  in  1833. 

It  is  conceded  that  the  Curetonian  version  is  a  trans- 
lation older  than  the  Peshito  version,  which  was  in  gen- 
eral use  in  the  Syrian  church  in  the  second  and  third 
centuries.  The  textual  variations  in  the  Curetonian  cor- 
respond, as  a  rule,  to  those  found  in  the  Diatessaron  of 
Tatian,  which,  as  already  stated,  was  prepared  early  in 
the  second  century.  But  while  this  translation  accords 
with  the  texts  of  the  best  and  the  oldest  manuscripts,  yet 
it  is  most  manifest  that  in  some  respects  it  was  inten- 
tionally corrupted  to  cater  to  certain  heresies.  Says  Dr. 
G.  F.  Wright^ :  "The  most  conspicuous  instance  of 
this  relates  to  the  miraculous  conception  of  Cbrist  which 
we  know  to  have  been  denied  by  Cerinthus  at  the  close 
of  the  first  century.    According  to  Irenteus,"  Cerinthus 

» Scientific  Aspects  of  Christian  Evidences,  page  230. 
•IrenKus,  Against  Heresies,  bk  1,  chap.  26. 


Authenticity  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  37 

represented  'Jesus  as  having  not  been  born  of  a  virgin, 
but  as  being  the  son  of  Joseph  and  Mary  according  to 
the  ordinary  course  of  human  generation,  while  he  nev- 
ertheless was  more  righteous,  prudent,  and  wise  than 
other  men.  Moreover,  after  his  baptism  Christ  de- 
scended upon  him  in  the  form  of  a  dove  from  the  Su- 
preme Euler,  and  that  then  he  proclaimed  the  unknown 
Father,  and  performed  miracles.'  With  these  views  of 
Cerinthus  concerning  the  person  of  Christ  the  sect  called 
Ebionites  are  said  to  have  agreed." 

(4)  The  Gospel  of  Peter.  This  was  discovered  in  a 
package  taken  from  a  Christian  tomb  in  Akhmim,  in  Up-  Gospel  o* 
per  Egypt,  and  published  in  1892.  It  is  of  much  im- 
portance. This  is  only  a  fragment,  containing  in  all 
about  sixteen  hundred  words.  All  the  modern  world 
knew  of  it  was  what  the  church  fathers  said  about  it; 
but  now  it  comes  in  as  an  evidence  of  the  authenticity  of 
the  Scriptures, — ^not  that  it  is  to  be  received  as  a  com- 
plete Gospel  written  by  Peter,  but  only  a  fragment  or 
a  compilation  from  the  four  Gospels  and  bearing  his 
name;  and  as  an  evidence  that  at  the  time  it  was  pre- 
pared the  four  Gospels  were  in  existence  and  received  by 
the  church.  It  is  a  fact,  says  Norton,  "that  no  apoc- 
ryphal gospels,  real  or  supposed,  are  mentioned  by  any 
Avriter  before  the  time  of  Origen,  besides  Irengeus  and 
Clement,  except  Serapion  quoted  by  Eusebius."  About 
the  close  of  the  second  century,  Serapion  was  bishop  of 
Antioch,  and  wrote  a  tract  concerning  the  "Gospel  of 
Peter  which  Eusebius  gives  in  his  "Ecclesiastical  His- 
tory," Book  IV,,  chapter  12.  "Another  tract  was  com- 
posed by  Serapion  concerning  the  Gospel  according  to 


38  Apologetics 

Peter,  so  called,  the  object  of  which  was  to  confute  the 
errors  contained  in  it,  on  account  of  some  in  the  church 
at  Ehossus  who  had  been  led  by  this  book  to  adopt  het- 
erodox opinions.  From  this  it  may  be  worth  while  to 
quote  a  few  words  in  which  he  expresses  his  opinion  con- 
cerning it.  'We,  bretbren,'  he  writes,  'acknowledge  the 
authority  both  of  Peter  and  the  other  apostles,  as  we  do 
that  of  Christ;  but  we  reject,  with  good  reason,  the  writ- 
ings which  falsely  bear  their  names,  Avell  knowing  that 
such  have  not  been  handed  down  to  us.  I,  indeed,  when 
I  was  with  you,  supposed  that  you  were  all  going  on  in 
a  right  faith;  and,  not  reading  through  the  Gospel  un- 
der the  name  of  Peter  which  was  produced  by  them 
(those  who  were  pleased  Avith  it),  I  said.  If  this  is  all 
that  troubles  you,  let  tlie  book  be  read.  But  having  since 
learnt  from  what  has  been  told  me  that  their  minds  had 
fallen  into  some  heresy,  I  hasten  to  be  with  you  again, 
brethren,  so  that  you  may  expect  me  shortly.  Now 
we,  brethren,  know  that  a  like  heresy  was  held  by  Mar- 
eion,  who  also  contradicted  himself,  not  comprehending 
what  he  said,  as  you  may  learn  from  what  has  been  writ- 
ten to  you.^  For  we  have  been  able  to  procure  this  gos- 
pel from  others  who  use  it,  that  is,  from  his  followers, 
who  are  called  Docetse  (for  the  greater  part  of  the  opin- 
ions in  question  belong  to  their  system),  and,  having 
gone  through  it,  we  have  found  it  for  the  most  part  con- 


*  As  this  Rentence  is  unimportant,  and  as  I  believe  the  present  text 
to  be  corrupt,  I  have  ventured  to  render  it  as  perhaps  it  should   be 

amended.  Jt  now  stands  thus:  "Hjufi?  &i,  aSf\<l>oi,  KaraXafionevoi.  OTrot'a? 
m>  alptoeuii  6  MapKiavo^,  xai  eauTui  r)vavTiovTO,  nr|  I'owi^  &  cAaAet,  S  liaOrjaetrOe  ef 
SiV  VfJilv  iypd^ri-  'ESvvriOrnj.ev  yap  Trap  aWoiv,  k.  t.  A.  I  WOUld  read  the  first 
words  as  follows:      'II/LLeiv  Sk,  aieAc^ot,  KaTaAa/3of;i6i'  on   Ofioiai  fiv  atpcVeut  6 

Mop/ciwi' 6?  (cai  (jauTtt>  ^fai-TioilTo,  k.  t-  A.  There  is  also  some  uncertainty 
about  the  precise  meaning  of  the  next  senten(re;  fortunately  this 
uncertaiuity  does  not  extend  to  auytblng  important  in  the  paragraph. 


Authenticity  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  39 

formable  to  the  true  doctrine  of  the  Saviour;  but  there 
are  some  things  exceptionable,  which  we  subjoin  for  your 
information.' " 

This  fragment  of  the  original  document  amply  veri- 
fies the  correctness  of  Serapion's  statements.  It  is  a 
compilation,  but  by  whom  we  know  not,  with  a  coloring 
and  interpolation  made,  no  doubt,  in  the  interest  of  cer- 
tain heresies  and  especially  the  Docetic.  But  the  real 
point  here  is,  the  author  of  "Peter's  Gospel"  used 
John's  Gospel  in  liis  compilation,  as  well  as  Matthew's, 
Mark's,  and  Luke's,  thus  showing  not  only  that  the 
fourth  Gospel  was  in  existence,  but  that  it  was  recog- 
nized by  the  churches.  From  the  fact  that  Justin  Mar- 
tyr was  well  acquainted  with  this  reported  Gospel  of 
Peter,  it  is  manifest  that  it  must  belong  to  the  first  half 
of  the  second  century. 

How  brief,  then,  the  period  between  the  death  of  our 
Lord  and  the  death  of  his  apostles,  to  the  time  when 
the  four  Gospels  were  put  in  the  form  we  now  have  them, 
and  became  the  recognized  authority  of  the  church. 

(1)  Another  ancient  record  must  here  be  taken  into 
account.  This  is  the  Tel-el- Amarna  Tablets,  discovered  Tei-ei 
in  1887.  They  are  written  in  cuneiform  characters,  and 
number  more  than  two  hundred  tablets.  They  belong 
to  the  fifteenth  century  B.  C,  and  consist  of  a  series  of 
letters  between  Egyptian  and  Asiatic  kings. 

At  this  time  Israel  was  yet  in  Egypt,  and  these  letters 
throw  much  light  on  the  political  condition  and  civiliza- 
tion both  of  Palestine  and  Egypt  at  that  period.  It  is 
a  little  strange  that  they  were  written,  too,  in  the  Baby- 
lonian language.    They  come  from  Byblos,  Tyre,  Gezer, 


Amama 
Tablets. 


40  Apologetics 

and  Ashkelon,  localities  well  known  to  biblical  history; 
and  from  such  persons  as  Azirn,  Shubandi,  from  the 
king  of  Mitonni  to  Amenophis  III.,  from  Alishaya,  in 
Upper  ]\Iesopotamia  to  Amenophis  III.,  and  from  Bur- 
raburyash  to  King  Amenophis  IV.  The  representations 
given  in  these  records  are  in  strict  accord  with  what  the 
Bible  states  was  the  real  condition  of  society  in  those 
countries  at  that  time.  The  political,  social,  and  com- 
mercial activity  in  western  Asia,  and  the  extended  in- 
ternational communications  which  obtained,  according 
to  these  ancient  records,  revolutionize  previous  modern 
thought  respecting  those  primitive  days. 

(2)  Israel  at  an  early  period  came  in  contact  with  a 
great  people,  the  Hittites,  whose  history  is  shadowed  in 
deep  mystery.  It  was  from  Ephron,  the  Hittite,  that 
Testimony.  Abraham  "purchased  the  field  and  the  cave"  in  which  he 
"buried  Sarah  his  wife."  In  Joshua,  we  read  of  "the 
land  of  the  Hittites,"  but  outside  of  the  Bible  the  world 
really  knew  nothing  about  this  great  people  until  in  the 
last  half  of  the  nineteenth  century.  And  even  from  the 
Bible  all  that  could  be  learned  of  them  was,  that  such 
a  people  existed  in  Palestine  in  the  days  of  Abraham, 
and  that  they  were  yet  in  the  country  when  Israel  came 
out  of  Egypt.  But  nothing  of  value  could  be  gathered 
respecting  their  history,  either  from  Egyptian,  Ar- 
menian, or  Assyrian  records.  As  a  result,  by  not  a  few 
critics,  all  that  was  said  of  them  in  the  Pentateuch  wa^ 
swept  away  as  mythical  and  legendary.  But  by  recent 
discoveries  the  flittite  empire  is  brought  to  light,  and 
all  that  is  stated  and  implied  in  the  sacred  Scriptures 
respecting  them  is  more  than  verified.     In  the  records 


Hittite 


Authenticity  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  41 

of  the  eighteenth  dynasty  of  Egypt  is  found  the 
first  mention  of  the  Hittites  outside  of  the  Pentateuch. 
Thothmes  III.  is  said  "to  have  received  tribute  from 
'the  land  of  the  Hittites.' "  "Tlie  Tel-el- Amarna  rec- 
ords, dating  from  the  time  of  Amenophis  III.  and  IV., 
of  the  same  dynasty,  contain  more  than  thirty  refer- 
ences to  these  peoples.''^  With  these"  Hittites,  Kameses 
II.  made  his  famous  treaty  in  the  twenty-first  year  of  his 
reign,  which  reads,  "He  shall  be  my  ally;  he  shall  be 
my  friend ;  I  will  be  his  ally ;  I  will  be  his  friend ;  for- 
ever." 

The  Hittites  are  known  to  have  been  a  literary  people, 
but  their  language  was  remarkably  different  from  the 
languages  of  the  nations  by  which  they  were  surrounded 
and  with  whom  they  held  intercourse.  The  Tel-el- 
Amarna  tablets  locate  these  people  originally  in  the 
Taurus  Mountains,  and  perhaps  in  Cappadocia.  Their 
inscriptions  and  sculptures  thus  far  discovered,  show 
that  their  power  and  influence  extended  as  far  west  as 
Lydia,  in  Asia  Minor,  and  southward  to  Hamath,  and 
that  they  were  a  distinct  people  from  eight  hundred  to 
a  thousand  years.  Their  inscriptions  are  peculiar  and 
varied,  and  at  present  we  know  not  how  to  translate 
them,  but  some  day  the  Hittite  records  will  tell  their 
story  to  the  modern  world  as  now  do  the  hieroglyphics 
of  Egypt. 

From  all  that  has  been  gathered  from  the  monuments 
thus  far,  it  is  quite  evident  that  the  Hyksos  ruled  Egypt 
when  Abraham,  Jacob,  and  Joseph  entered  that  country, 
and  that  their  dominion  there  was  brought  to  a  close  by 


*  The  Monuments  and  the  old  Testament,  chap.  22,  page  263. 


4:2  Apologetics 

Thothmes  III.  and  his  successors.  The  author  of  "The 
Monuments  and  the  Old  Testament"  says^ :  "In  survey- 
ing the  whole  sweep  of  discoveries  in  the  historical  line, 
one  may  well  be  amazed  at  the  galaxy  of  characters  now 
drawn  up  to  view.  Beginning  back  at  the  fourteenth 
chapter  of  Genesis,  we  find  evidences  of  the  existence  of 
the  leader,  Chedorlaomer,  of  the  great  Elamite  cam- 
paign against  the  cities  of  the  plain.  The  probabilities 
of  a  Hyksos  domination  in  Egypt  when  Abraham  and 
Joseph  reached  the  Nile  land  are  increasing  with  each 
new  Egyptian  discovery  touching  this  period.  The  pos- 
session at  Gizeh  Museum  of  the  mummy  of  the  Pharaoh 
of  the  oppression,  Eameses  II.,  and  a  tablet  of  the  time 
of  Mineptah  II.,  bearing  the  name,  'Israel,'  add  great 
"vividness  to  the  bondage  of  Israel  in  Egypt.  Portraits 
of  some  of  the  Canaanitish  peojjle  show  us  the  kind  of 
soldiers  that  disputed  with  Joshua  the  occupation  of  the 
Promised  Land.  Shishak's  portrait  of  his  captives  from 
Canaan  bears  evidence  on  the  face  of  it  of  the  verity  of 
the  Kings'  record  of  that  event.  The  Moabite  stone  tells 
us  that  Mesha,  of  Moab  (II.  Kings  3:4),  was  no  less  a 
king  than  represented  by  the  compiler  of  Kings.  The 
record  of  Shalmaneser  II.  bears  testimony  to  the  exist- 
ence of  Ahab,  of  Pjen-hadad,  and  Hazael,  of  Damascus, 
and  of  'Jehu  son  of  Omri.'  Tiglath-Pileser  III.  has  left 
most  valuable  documents,  in  which  he  mentions  Azariah 
(Uzziah)  and  Ahaz,  of  Judah,  and  Menahcm,  Pekah, 
and  Hosliea,  of  Israel,  and  Rezin,  of  Damascus.  Sargon 
II.  describes  his  capture  of  Samaria,  and  of  Ashdod. 
Sennacherib's  records  are  full  of  facts  regarding  his  il- 

» Page  293. 


Authenticity  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  43 

lustrious  campaign  of  701  B.  C,  where  we  find  Hezekiah 
mentioned  by  name,  the  siege  of  Lachish  pictured  on  his 
walls,  and  the  amount  of  tribute  paid  the  invader.  Esar- 
haddon  and  Asurbanipal  both  mention  in  their  list  of 
tributaries  Manasseh,  of  Judah.  The  overthrow  of 
Nineveh,  pictured  in  Nahum,  is  attested  by  a  small  in- 
scription of  Nabonidus.  The  policy  of  Nebuchadnezzar, 
and  his  administrative  ability,  are  evident  in  his  own 
records.  The  annals  of  Nabonidus  and  of  Cyrus  picture 
the  fall  of  Babylon  and  the  governmental  policy  of 
Cyrus  outlined  in  the  Old  Testament.  Belshazzar  is  seen 
to  be  the  son  and  coregent  of  Nabonidus,  the  last  Sem- 
itic king  of  Babylon.  The  construction  of  the  palace 
of  Susa  is  found  to  correspond  in  every  important  respect 
with  the  descriptions  of  the  Book  of  Esther.  In  brief,  we 
now  have  several  new  and  corroborative  chapters  of  his- 
tory as  one  immediate  result  of  the  decipherment  of  the 
new  documents  dug  out  of  the  earth  within  the  last  half 
century." 

It  matters  but  little  whether  we  look  to  the  land  of  tho 
Pharaohs,  to  the  wilderness  of  wanderings,  to  the  plains 
of  Moab,  to  the  ancient  city  of  the  great  king,  to  the 
archives  of  Nineveh,  or  to  the  record  of  Babylon,  the 
same  unequivocal  testimony  comes  from  all,  to  the  au- 
thenticity of  the  sacred  record. 

And  now  having  somewhat  discussed  the  authenticity 
of  the  Scriptures,  we  close  with  the  words  of  Bishop 
Butler :  "These  observations  are,  I  think,  just,  and  the 
evidence  referred  to  in  them  real,  though  there  may  be 
people  who  will  not  accept  of  such  imperfect  informa- 
tion from  Scripture.    Some,  too,  have  not  integrity  and 


44  Apologetics 

regard  enough  for  the  truth  to  attend  to  evidence,  which 
keeps  the  mind  in  doubt,  perhaps  perplexity,  and  which 
is  much  of  a  different  sort  from  what  they  expected. 
And  it  plainly  requires  a  degree  of  modesty  and  fair- 
ness beyond  what  every  one  has  for  a  man  to  say,  not 
to  the  world,  but  to  himself,  that  there  is  a  real  appear- 
ance of  somewhat  of  great  weight  in  this  matter,  though 
he  is  not  able  to  thoroughly  satisfy  himself  about  it ;  but 
it  shall  have  its  influence  upon  him,  in  proportion  to 
its  appearing  reality  and  weight.  It  is  much  easier,  and 
more  readily  falls  in  with  the  negligence,  presumption, 
and  willfulness  of  the  generality,  to  determine  at  once, 
with  a  decisive  air,  that  there  is  nothing  in  it.  The  preju- 
dices arising  from  that  absolute  contempt  and  scorn  with 
which  their  evidence  is  treated  in  the  world,  I  do  not 
mention.  For  what,  indeed,  can  be  said  to  persons  who 
are  weak  enough  in  their  understandings  to  think  this 
any  presumption  against  it ;  or,  if  they  do  not,  are  yet 
weak  enough  in  their  temper  to  be  influenced  by  such 
prejudices  upon  such  a  subject  ?" 


CHAPTER  III. 

Inspikation  of  the  Holy  Scriptures. 


1.  Having  discussed  the  authenticity  of  the  Scrip- 
tures somewhat,  we  now  proceed  to  consider  the  inspira- 
tion of  their  authors.  The  relation  existing  between 
these  two  topics  is  such  tliat  much  that  has  been  said  on 
the  former  is  equally  applicable  to  the  latter,  for  the  one 
subject  involves  the  other.  The  history  of  the  revela- 
tion of  God's  will  to  man  shows  that  the  manner  of  its 
delivery  was  not  as  human  reason  would  have  concluded 
it  would  be. 

( 1 )  Reason  would  have  said,  it  will  be  given  immedi- 
ately, not  mediately ;  not  universally,  but  to  individuals ; 
not  partially,  but  completely;  decidedly,  not  demon- 
strably ;  at  once,  not  progressively.  Seldom  did  God  re- 
veal himself  in  a  like  manner  to  different  persons,  and 
scarcely  ever  twice  in  the  same  way  to  the  same  person. 
In  Eden,  his  voice  was  heard  in  the  cool  of  the  day 
(Gen.  3:8);  to  Noah  he  spake  by  intuition,  or  inward 
utterance ;  to  Abraham  by  angels,  visions,  and  by  a  burn- 
ing lamp ;  to  Moses  by  an  angel  in  the  burning  bush  and 
by  lightning  and  thunder ;  to  Jacob  by  a  dream — a  lad- 
der was  let  down  from  the  skies — and  by  a  wrestle  with 
the  angel  of  God;  to  his  chosen  people  by  dreams  and 
by  his  prophets.  (I.  Sam.  28:  6.)  Then  came  a  cessa- 
tion of  a  period  of  four  hundred  years,  from  Malachi 

45 


Relation  of 
Inspiration 
to  Autben- 
ticity. 


Manner  in 
which  God 
Spalie  to 
Man. 


46 


Apologetics 


Five 

Theories  of 
Inspiration. 


Dictation  or 
Mechanical 
Theory. 


Djmanilcal 
Theory 


to  the  Advent,  when  God,  in  tlie  person  of  his  Son,  ap. 
peared  among  men  to  reveal  his  will  complete,  and  to 
cpen  forever  the  gates  of  eternal  day  by  the  descent  of 
the  Holy  Sjjirit. 

Such  has  been  somewhat  of  the  order  in  which  God 
made  his  revelations,  and  the  sixty-six  books  already 
mentioned  contained  record  of  these  revelations.  But  it 
is  not  the  purpose  in  this  treatise  to  give  a  history  of  the 
doctrine  of  inspiration  as  it  developed  in  the  church, 
but  the  student  is  referred  to  Schaff  and  Herzog^  for 
that  information.  AYhile  the  Holy  Scriptures  themselves 
lay  claim  to  inspiration,  they  contain  no  specific  defini- 
tion of  that  term,  and  hence  the  many  theories  enter- 
tained by  believers.  Xot  less  than  five  well-defined  the- 
ories, often  modified  in  a  degree,  have  found  adherents 
in  almost  every  age  of  the  church,  Avhich  theories  may 
be  stated  as  follows : 

(a)  The  dictation  or  mechanical  theor}'',  which  ob- 
tained in  the  early  ages  of  the  church,  holds  that  every 
idea,  sentence,  word,  letter,  and  even  vowel  point  of  the 
Scriptures  had  been  dictated  by  the  Holy  Ghost.  At  the 
time  of  the  Eeformation,  the  human  element  in  the  in- 
spired writings  seems  to  have  been  more  fully  recognized, 
but  later,  in  the  Protestant  churches,  it  has  been  formu- 
lated into  "an  accurate  theological  dogma." 

(h)  The  dj'namical  theory  is  the  second,  and  seems  to 
have  displaced  in  a  degree  the  first  theory.  Tliis  holds 
that  the  sacred  Scriptures  were  committed  to  writing 
under  the  guidance  of,  but  not  dictated  by,  the  Holy 
Spirit.    The  writers  were  free  to  use  their  own  language 


« S.  &  H.,  Vol.  H.,  page  llOL 


Inspiration  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  4:7 

and  adopt  their  own  style.  The  truths  were  revealed,  but 
the  language  was  peculiar  to  the  individuality  of  the 
writers. 

(c)  The  third  theory  is  that  of  divine  illumination. 
It  dates  from  the  days  of  the  Jewish  rabbis,  who  dis- 
tinguished between  the  prophetic  spirit,  which  inspired 
the  law  and  the  prophets,  and  the  Holy  Spirit,  which 
enabled  man  to  speak  and  write  such  words  and  sentences 
of  holiness  as  do  not  transcend  the  faculties  of  men.  Its 
advocates  hold  to  the  view  of  different  degrees  of  inspira- 
tion just  in  proportion  as  the  light  of  the  divine  Spirit 
quickened  and  illuminated  the  understanding  of  the  sa- 
cred writers  from  the  highest  degree  of  splendor  to  the 
faintest  glimmer  of  light. 

(d)  There  is  also  a  fourth  theory,  which  has  many 
able  advocates,  such  as  Archdeacon  Paley,  Dr.  Dod- 
dridge, Van  Oosterzee,  Baxter,  Erasmus,  Leclerc,  F.  W. 
Farrar,  and  Dr.  Dorner;  also,  Alford,  Calvin,  and  Theory. 
Lange.  It  is  usually  called  the  essential  theory,  as  dis- 
tinguished from  the  plenary.  Its  formula  is,  "The  Bible 
contains  the  word  of  God/'  but  rejects  as  faulty  that 

other  formula,  "The  Bible  is  the  word  of  God."  The  ad- 
vocates of  this  theory  of  inspiration,  says  Canon  Farrar, 
"confine  this  inspiration  to  matters  of  doctrine,  matters 
of  morality,  and,  above  all,  to  matters  of  faith." 

(e)  The  advocates  of  the  four  theories  hold  to  tliis 
one  theory  in  common,  namely,  that  the  Holy  Scriptures 
are  divinely  inspired  and  infallible  in  matters  of  doc- 
trine, morality,  and  faith.  They  also  differ  from  a  fifth 
theory,  called  "Ordinary  Inspiration,"  in  that  they  be- 
lieve it  to  be  "an  extraordinary,  transcendant  operation 


48 


Apologetics 


of  the  Holy  Spirit,"  while  the  advocates  of  the  ordinary 
theory  hold  that  in  the  action  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  as  ex- 
ercised in  the  inspiration  of  the  Scriptures,  there  is  no 
generic  distinction  from  the  ordinary  operations  of  that 
Spirit  upon  the  heart  and  intellect  of  true  believers  in 
all  ages. 

Other  points  of  diiierence  among  the  above  theories 
might  be  named,  as  well  as  their  merits  pointed  out,  but 
brevity  forbids  it  in  this  connection.  It  will  be  safe, 
however,  to  say  that  while  no  one  of  them  contains  all  of 
the  truth  on  the  subject  of  the  inspiration  of  the  Scrip- 
tures, no  one  of  them  is  wholly  destitute  of  some  truth  on 
Comparison  the  subject.    As  Dr.  Sprecher  has  well  said,  "The  true 

of  the  conception  seems  to  be  that  the  apostles  had  the  same 

Theories.  ^    ^  '^ 

kmd  and  the  same  degree  of  assistance  in  their  written  as 

in  their  oral  instructions,  and  that  they  were  as  much 
required  to  use  their  natural  powers  and  to  avail  them- 
selves of  natural  means  of  information  in  the  former  as 
in  the  latter;  and  that  they  did,  on  the  other  hand,  as 
certainly  in  the  former  as  in  the  latter,  receive  aid  of  any 
and  every  kind  which  might  be  necessary  to  give  infalli- 
bility to  their  written  as  well  as  to  their  oral  instruc- 
tions." 

2.  Divine  inspiration,  then,  may  be  defined:  The 
Holy  Spirit  so  moving,  influencing ,  controlling,  and  us- 
ing the  sacred  writers  as  to  make  them  his  mediums 
through  which  to  give  a  written  revelation  of  his  will 
to  man  of  the  plan  of  salvation,  the  ideas  communicated 
heing  inspired,  true  in  point  of  fact,  hut  the  writers  be- 
ing left  free  to  clothe  those  ideas  in  their  own  language, 
hut  so  restricted  by  the  Holy  Spirit  in  the  use  of  Ian- 


Inspiration  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  49 

guage  as  not  to  use  words  that  would  misrepresent  those 
ideas. 

The  sacred  writers  did  not  "speak  as  they  were  dic- 
tated to,  but  they  'spake  as  they  were  moved  by  the  Holy 
Spirit.' "  All  that  can  be  desired  in  the  sacred  narra- 
tive is  certainty,  and  this  we  surely  have  in  the  Scrip- 
tures. The  Bible  is  emphatically  God's  book,  divine  and 
infallible  as  a  rule  of  morals,  doctrines,  and  faith.  It 
is  addressed  to  human  beings,  human  beings  were  em- 
ployed as  the  organs  of  its  communication,  and  human 
language  as  the  vehicle  of  its  inspired  thoughts;  heuce, 
His  book  must  possess  the  variety  of  style  and  the  mode 
of  expression  peculiar  to  the  writers  whom  he  inspired 
to  write  it,  and  the  age  in  which  they  wrote.  One  thing 
must  be  kept  ever  before  the  mind,  that  while  the  "divine 
element  in  the  inspired  books  does  not  destroy  or  shut  out 
the  human,"  nevertheless,  inspiration  is  a  miracle,  and 
in  the  language  of  an  eminent  divine,  "the  special  mirac- 
ulous, divine  influence  in  the  Bible  cannot  consistently 
be  denied  by  any  who  acknowledge  the  indestructibility 
of  the  Bible,  and  at  the  same  time  believe  in  a  personal 
God."  For  "as  certainly  as  the  creation  of  the  world 
was  a  miracle,  so  certainly  is  the  Bible  the  result  of  a 
miraculous  influence." 

(1)  As  to  the  Old  Testament  Scriptures. 

(a)  The  authors  of  the  Old  Testament  claim  to  be 

inspired.     This  is  manifest  in  their  writings  by  their  oid 

forms  of  expression :    "The  Lord  spake  by  his  servant,"   f i-'stament 

^  1  J  ;>       Claims 

or,    The  word  of  the  Lord  came" ;  also,  by  positive  dec-   inspiration 

laration,  "And  he  said,  Hear  now  my  words"  (Num.  12 : 

6) ;  again,  "And  the  Lord  spake  unto  Moses."    Men  were 

4 


60  Apologetics 

chosen  as  prophets :  "And  the  Lord  came  .  .  .  and 
called  .  .  .  Samuel.  .  .  .  And  the  Lord  said 
to  Samuel,  Behold  I  will  do,"  etc.  (I.  Sam.  3: 10,  11.) 
Also,  "Then  the  Lord  put  forth  his  hand,  and  touched 
my  mouth.  And  the  Lord  said  unto  me.  Behold,  I  have 
put  my  words  in  thy  mouth.  See,  I  have  this  day  set 
thee  over  the  nations,  and  over  the  kingdoms"  ( Jer.  1 : 
9,10). 

(b)  It  is  very  clear  that  Christ  and  his  apostles  recog- 
nized the  Old  Testament  as  inspired,  and  regarded  it 
with  as  much  reverence  as  did  the  Jews.     In  all  their 
arguments  and  disputations,  the  Jewish  Scriptures  were 
Inspiration  the  court  of  appeal.     Christ  said  to  the  Jews,  "Search 
of  the  Old    ^j^g  Scriptures ;  for  in  them  ye  think  ye  have  eternal  life ; 
Recognized  and  they  are  they  which  testify  of  me."    "For  had  ye 

^^.^.^^^*     believed  Moses,  ye  would  have  believed  me :  for  he  wrote 
and  the  '  '' 

Apostles,  of  me."  Again,  "Jesus  answered  them.  Is  it  not  written 
in  your  law,  I  said,  Ye  are  gods  ?"  He  sometimes  charged 
them  with  being  ignorant  of  the  Scriptures,  "Ye  do  err, 
not  knowing  the  Scriptures."  His  reply  to  Satan,  when 
tempted,  is  very  explicit,  "It  is  written,  Man  shall  not 
live  by  bread  alone,  but  by  every  word  that  proceedeth 
out  of  the  mouth  of  God."  Perhaps  the  most  forceful 
word  of  our  Lord  to  the  point  now  under  consideration 
was  the  following,  which  was  uttered  after  his  resur- 
rection, **These  are  my  words  which  I  spake  unto  you, 
while  I  was  yet  with  you,  how  that  all  things  must  needs 
be  fulfilled,  which  are  written  in  the  law  of  Moses,  and 
the  prophets,  and  the  Psalms  concerning  me.  Then 
opened  he  their  mind,  that  they  might  understand  the 
Scriptures."    "Again  another  scripture  saith,  They  shall 


Inspiratio7i  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  51 

look  on  him  whom  they  pierced."  Thus  the  Christ, 
from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  his  eventful  ministry, 
in  the  wilderness  of  temptation,  and  even  on  the  cross, 
as  he  lifted  with  his  pierced  hands  empires  from  off 
their  hinges  and  turned  the  currents  of  centuries  from 
their  deep-worn  channels,  ever  and  anon  appealed  to  the 
Scriptures  in  the  emphatic  words,  "Thus  it  is  written," 
etc. 

(c)  The  apostles  gave  to  the  Old  Testament  a  similar 
endorsement.  Paul,  in  his  second  epistle  to  Timothy, 
says,  "Every  scripture  inspired  of  God  is  also  profitable 
for  teaching,"  etc.  This  passage  does  not  refer  to  all  of 
our  canonical  books,  as  some  have  interpreted,  but  to  the 
books  of  the  Old  Testament.  St.  Peter,  in  his  second 
epistle,  says,  "JSi^o  prophecy  ever  came  by  the  will  of  man : 
but  men  spake  from  God,  being  moved  by  the  Holy 
Ghost."  The  epistle  to  the  Hebrews  abounds  in  quota- 
tions from  the  Old  Testament.  "God,  having  of  old 
times  spoken  unto  the  fathers  in  the  prophets  by  divers 
portions  and  in  divers  manners,  hath  at  the  end  of  these 
days  spoken  unto  us  in  his  Son."  "Wherefore,  even  as 
the  Holy  Ghost  saith.  To-day  if  ye  shall  hear  his  voice, 
harden  not  your  hearts,  as  in  the  provocation,"  etc.  "He 
saith.  Behold,  the  days  "come,  saith  the  Lord,  that  I  will 
make  a  new  covenant  with  the  house  of  Israel  and  with 
the  house  of  Judah,"  etc.  All  these  quotations  from  the 
Hebrews  are  found  in  the  Book  of  Psalms,  except  the 
last,  which  is  from  Jeremiah,  and  each  passage  repre- 
sents God  as  the  speaker,  and  the  same  is  true  of  every 
quotation  throughout  this  epistle. 

Again,  in  the  first  epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  we  read. 


52 


Apologetics 


Jews  of 
Christ's 
Day 

Regarded 
Old  Testa- 
ment as 
Inspired. 


The  New 
Testament 
Claims  to  be 
Inspired. 


"For  it  is  written,  I  will  destroy  the  wisdom  of  the  wise, 
and  will  bring  to  nothing  the  understanding  of  the  pru- 
dent.'' Indeed,  more  than  two  hundred  passages  from 
the  Old  Testament  which  have  been  quoted  by  the  au- 
thors of  the  New  as  of  divine  authority,  might  be  here 
introduced,  but  it  is  not  necessary. 

It  may  not,  however,  be  amiss  to  state  in  this  connec- 
tion, that  the  Jews  in  the  day  of  Christ  regarded  the 
books  of  the  Old  Testament  as  divinely  inspired,  not 
only  in  respect  to  their  doctrines,  but  also  in  everything 
that  pertained  to  them.  Josephus  says,  "They  being 
only  prophets  that  have  written  the  original  and  earliest 
accounts  of  things,  as  they  learned  them  from  God  him- 
self by  inspiration."  He  adds,  "But  it  is  become  natural 
to  all  Jews  to  esteem  these  books  to  contain  divine  doc- 
trines, and  to  persist  in  them,  and,  if  occasion  be,  to  bo 
willing  to  die  for  them."^ 

(2)  The  inspiration  of  the  New  Testament  is  proved 
from  its  own  testimony.  The  sacred  writers  insist  upon 
and  persist  in  the  infallibility  of  their  statements.  St. 
Paul  says,  "Which  things  also  we  speak,  not  in  words 
which  man's  wisdom  toacheth,  but  which  the  Spirit 
teacheth."  In  the  first  epistle  to  the  Thessalonians  it  is 
declared  that  "when  ye  received  from  us  the  word  of 
message,  even  the  word  of  God,  ye  accepted  it  not  as  the 
word  of  men,  but,  as  it  is  in  truth,  the  word  of  God." 

The  spirit  of  prophecy  was  given  to  them.  In  I.  Tim- 
othy we  read,  "But  the  Spirit  saith  expressly,  that  in 
later  times  some  shall  fall  away  from  the  faith,"  etc. 
This  divine  enduement  claimed  by  the  apostle  was  prom- 


»Apion,  Book  I. 


Inspiration  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  53 

ised  to  them  by  our  Lord.  His  words  are,  "And  I  will 
pray  the  Father,  and  he  shall  give  you  another  Com- 
forter, that  he  may  be  with  you  for  ever,  even  the  Spirit 
of  truth:  whom  the  world  cannot  receive"  (John  14: 
16,  E.  v.).  This  Comforter  was  to  teach  them  and  tes- 
tify of  Christ:  '"But  the  Comforter,  even  the  Holy 
Spirit,  whom  the  Father  will  send  in  my  name,  he  shall 
teach  you  all  things,  and  bring  to  your  remembrance  all 
that  I  said  unto  you."  "But  when  the  Comforter  is  come 
.  .  .  even  the  Spirit  of  truth,  ...  he  shall  bear 
witness  of  me :  and  ye  also  bear  witness,  because  ye  have 
been  with  me  from  the  beginning."  In  the  sixteenth 
chapter  of  John  the  promise  of  a  full  and  complete  in- 
spiration is  given :  "Howbeit  when  he,  the  Spirit  of 
truth,  is  come,  he  shall  guide  you  into  all  the  truth :  for 
he  shall  not  speak  from  himself ;  but  what  things  soever 
he  shall  hear,  these  shall  he  speak :  and  he  shall  declare 
unto  you  the  things  that  are  to  come."  Jesus,  in  speak- 
ing to  his  disciples  of  the  coming  persecution,  cautioned 
them  against  being  over-anxious  about  what  they  should 
say.  "For,"  said  he,  "it  is  not  ye  that  speak,  but  the 
Holy  Ghost."  It  is  manifest  from  these  and  many 
more  passages  that  might  be  cited,  that  the  promise  of 
inspiration  was  made  by  Christ  to  his  disciples,  and  also 
that  the  apostles  claimed  to  be  in  the  possession  of  the 
fulfillment  of  that  promise  while  speaking  and  writing. 
3.  It  is  most  manifest,  therefore,  that  each  writer  of 
the  sacred  Scriptures  claimed  that  he  was  inspired  to   Each  Writer 

write  as  he  did,  and  that  the  communication  was  from  of  sacred 

Scripture 
God.    This,  also,  was  the  light  in  which  the  church  re-   claims 

ceived  and  has  held  the  Holy  Scriptures  and  their  au-  inspiration. 


54 


Apologetics 


thors.  There  is  a  remarkable  statement  by  Justin  Mar- 
tjT  respecting  the  spread  of  the  gospel  in  his  day,  and 
also  of  the  qualification  of  the  men  who  wrote  the  Gos- 
pels, "There  is  not  a  nation  either  of  Greek  or  barbarian, 
or  of  any  other  name,  even  of  those  who  wander  in  tribes, 
and  live  in  tents,  amongst  whom  prayers  and  thanks- 
giving are  not  offered  to  the  Father  and  Creator  of  the 
universe  by  the  name  of  the  crucified  Jesus."^  Justin 
Martyr  wrote  not  more  than  thirty  years  after  Pliny,  and 
about  one  hundred  and  sixty  years  after  the  ascension. 
JrenpBus,  a  disciple  of  Polycarp,  declares,  "The  Scrip- 
tures were  dictated  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  and  that  there- 
fore it  is  wickedness  to  contradict  them,  and  sacrilegious 
to  alter  them."  He  also  says,  "The  gospel  was  first 
preached,  and  afterwards,  by  the  will  of  God,  committed 
to  writing,  that  it  might  be  for  time  to  come  the  founda- 
tion and  pillar  of  our  faith." 

Surely  it  was  the  intention  of  the  writers  of  the  Holy 
Scriptures  and  of  our  blessed  Lord,  also,  that  the  church 
should  receive  and  regard  their  sacred  writings  as  having 
been  dictated  and  rendered  infallible  by  the  Holy  Spirit. 
Says  Von  Oosterzee,  "He  who  will  acknowledge  in  Scrip- 
ture no  higher  than  a  purely  human  character  comes  in 
collision,  not  only  with  our  Lord's  word  and  that  of  his 
witnesses,  but  also  with  the  Christian  consciousness  of  all 
ages."^ 

4.  The  nature  of  its  contents  and  the  unity  of  the 
hoolc  itself  are  proofs  of  its  inspiration. 

( 1 )  As  we  read  the  sacred  pages  of  both  the  Old  Testa- 


'IMal  cutn  Tryph. 
*  Dogmatics,  page  189. 


Inspiration  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  55 

ment  and  the  New,  we  meet  in  the  writers  all  the  frail- 
ties and  weaknesses  of  men  of  like  passions  with  our- 
selves. Sometimes  they  are  courageous  and  daring;  at 
other  times  they  betray  a  pitiable  weakness  and  cow- 
ardice. AX  one  time  they  speak  and  act  like  saints;  at 
another  foul  blots  appear  upon  their  character,  and  we  writers  of 
hear  the  shrill  voice  of  an  aged  seer  ring  out  the  keen,  HunTan^ and 
cutting  words,  "Thou  art  the  man."  But  amid  all  this  imperfect, 
diversity  of  weakness  and  strength,  it  has,  in  truth,  been 
said  of  these  writers  by  Canon  Farrar,  "aSTor  has  the  wid- 
est learning  and  the  acutest  ingenuity  of  skepticism  ever 
pointed  to  one  complete  and  demonstrable  error  of  fact 
or  doctrine  in  the  Old  and  New  Testament."  The  same 
writer  says:  "Yet  all  this  infinite  diversity  is,  like  the 
diversity  of  nature,  merged  in  a  yet  more  marvelous 
unity.  Kings,  prophets,  warriors,  historians,  poets,  ex- 
iles, shepherds,  gatherers  of  sycamore  fruit,  fishermen, 
tax-gatherers,  Ve  do  hear  them  speak  in  our  tongues  the 
wonderful  works  of  God.'  Whether  we  read  the  pas- 
sionate pleadings  of  an  afflicted  Chaldean  noble  or  the 
rh3^thmic  utterances  of  a  great  Mesopotamian  sorcerer; 
whether  it  be  the  cynical  confession  of  a  sated  worldling 
or  the  pathetic  cry  of  a  guilty  and  repentant  king; 
whether  it  be  the  exultant  thanksgiving  for  some  splen- 
did deliverance  or  the  impassioned  denunciation  of  some 
intolerable  wrong;  whether  it  be  the  stately  music  of 
some  gorgeous  vision  or  the  brief  letter  of  an  aged  pris- 
oner recommending  the  forgiveness  of  an  unprofitable 
slave,  we  feel  that  in  these,  there  reigns  throughout  a  di- 
vine coherency,  an  unbroken  unity ;  we  feel  that  the  long 
history  is  also  a  symbol  and  a  prophecy ;  that  each  writer 


56 


Apologetics 


TIlS 

TiiougM  or 
Ideas  of 
Bible 
Denote 
Inspiration. 


was  but  the  instrument,  often  the  wholly  unconscious 
instrument,  of  purposes  loftier  than  his  own,  and  the 
utterer  of  language  often  deeper  than  he  liimself  could 
understand ;  we  feel  that  in  the  Old  Testament  the  New 
is  prefigured;  in  the  New  the  Old  is  fulfilled.  From  be- 
ginning to  end  we  recognize  the  truth  that  though  God 
is  in  all  history,  never  had  any  nation  a  history  so  signifi- 
cant as  that  of  this  nation;  none  have  ever  known  as 
these  knew,  or  taught  as  these  teach,  the  holiness  of  God 
and  the  majesty  of  man." 

(2)  In  this  sacred  book  the  student  who  pursues  its 
pages  meets  with  much  that  attracts  and  inspires  the 
thoughtful.  In  the  Old  Testament,  all  that  is  grand  and 
sublime  in  the  majesty  of  God  as  creator  and  ruler  of  a 
vast  universe  is  portrayed.  From  the  opening  to  the  clos- 
ing sentence  of  the  book  the  description  is  ever  in  keep- 
ing with  the  dignity  of  the  subject.  The  inhabitants  of 
all  worlds  wait  with  anxious  eye  turned  to  him  as  the 
God  of  providence.  Back  of  the  storm  and  behind  the 
thundering,  warring  elements  he  sits,  a  being  of  infinite 
majesty,  "not  clearing  the  guilty,  but  merciful,  long-suf- 
fering, and  abundant  in  goodness  and  truth." 

In  the  New,  Christ  introduces  him  as  "our  Father 
which  art  in  heaven."  He  who  was  once  the  God  of 
Abraham,  the  God  of  Isaac,  and  the  God  of  Jacob  is  now 
the  God  of  the  whole  human  race.  What  was  once  the 
creed  of  a  tribe  is  now  the  religion  of  the  world.  Sacri- 
fices, rites,  and  ceremonies,  which,  in  the  Old,  typified 
something  better  to  come,  in  the  New  are  realized  in 
the  image  of  God,  reflected  from  the  human  soul,  which 
is  the  highest  ideal  of  man  and  the  crowning  glory  of 
God. 


Inspiration  of  the  Holy  /Scriptures  57 

Also,  the  marvelous  purity  of  its  teachings,  its  lofty 
ideal  on  the  subject  of  morals,  its  clear,  faithful  delinea- 
tions of  the  effects  of  irreligion  and  profligacy,  the  cor- 
rectness of  which  is  verified  by  our  experience  in  this 
life ;  also,  the  many  truths  which  it  reveals,  not  discover- 
able by  reason,  such  as  a  future  life  with  rewards  and 
punishments,  immortality,  the  resurrection  of  the  dead, 
and  a  future  judgment,  all  of  which  are  of  the  deepest 
and  most  abiding  interest  to  us,  and  wliich,  in  their  na- 
ture and  tendency,  elevate  the  thoughts  and  affections  of 
men  from  things  perishing  to  things  spiritual  and  abid- 
ing,— all,  all  carry  conviction  to  man  that  God  speaks 
to  him  in  this  volume  of  his  written  word.  The 

Of  Jesus  Christ,  says  Goethe,  "I  esteem  the  Gospels   Faultless 
to  be  thoroughly  genuine,  for  there  shines  forth  from   Christ  set 
them  the  reflected  sj)lendor  of  a  sublimity  proceeding  Forth  in 
from  the  person  of  Jesus  Christ  of  so  divine  a  kind  as   Manifests 
only  the  divine  could  ever  have  manifested  upon  earth."^   inspiration. 

'"'How  petty,"  says  Eousseau,  "are  the  books  of  the 
philosophers,  with  all  their  pomp,  compared  with  the 
Gospels !  Can  it  be  that  writings  at  once  so  sublime  and 
so  simple  are  the  works  of  mere  men?  Can  he  whose 
life  they  tell,  be  of  mere  men  ?  Can  he  whose  life  they 
tell  be  himself  no  more  tlian  a  mere  man?  ... 
What  a  loftiness  in  his  maxims,  what  profound  wisdom 
in  his  words  !  AYhat  presence  of  mind,  what  delicacy  and 
aptness  in  his  replies!  What  an  empire  over  his  pas- 
sions !  Where  is  the  man,  where  is  the  sage,  who  knows 
how  to  act,  suffer,  and  die  without  weakness  and  dis- 
play ?     .     .     .     The  Jews  could  never  have  struck  this 

» Conversations  with  Ekermann,  III.,  37L 


58  Apologetics 

tone,  or  thought  of  this  morality,  and  the  gospel  has 
characteristics  of  truthfulness  so  grand,  so  striking,  so 
perfectly  inimitable  that  their  inventors  would  be  even 
more  wonderful  than  he  whom  they  portray."^ 

As  Jesus  Christ  is  the  only  perfect,  faultless  life  and 
the  only  worthy  pattern  of  all  the  men  who  have  lived, 
so  the  Bible  is  the  only  perfect  book  of  all  the  books  writ- 
ten. The  spirit  that  it  breathes  is  not  the  spirit  of  man, 
but  the  Spirit  of  God.  It  is  strictly  cosmopolitan  in  its 
spirit,  and  belongs  to  every  age  and  is  adapted  to  every 
race  of  men.  It  is  as  broad  as  the  family  of  mankind, 
and  is  as  emphatically  God's  book  as  the  race  is  God's 
offspring. 

»Emiie,  i.,  4.  109,  llJU 


CHAPTEK  IV. 

Miracles — Their  Credibility  and  Intent. 

1.  Man  is  capable  of  gaining  knowledge  and  arriving 
at  the  truth.  This  he  does  in  two  ways :  the  one  by  ex- 
perience, the  other  by  observation,  or  the  experience  of 
others.  The  former  is  expensive  and  slow;  the  latter 
quick  and  cheap.  The  foolish  learn  only  in  the  school  of 
experience,  but  the  wise  in  both.  Also,  two  methods  are 
open  to  him  by  which  he  may  arrive  at  a  knowledge  of 
the  truth.  The  one  is  by  the  exercise  of  the  human  fac-  obtaining 
ulties,  observation,  intuition,  reflection,  reason,  judg-  Knowledge. 
ment ;  the  other  is  by  a  direct  supernatural  communica- 
tion from  Heaven,  of  facts  that  could  not  be  obtained 
by  any  known  operation  of  the  human  mind.  In  such  a 
communication  or  series  of  communications  the  sacred 
Scriptures  claim  to  have  originated.  Two  facts  should 
ever  be  kept  in  mind  by  the  Bible  student.  The  one  is, 
the  Scriptures  claim  that  the  communication  was  from 
God.  The  other  is,  that  they  claim  man  was  the  recorder 
of  the  communication;  that  is,  God  communicated  the 
Scriptures,  man  recorded  them,  therefore  the  recording 
was  human,  the  supernatural  communication  divine. 
Now,  the  authenticity,  both  of  the  Old  and  the  New 
Testament,  and  their  inspiration  having  been  established, 
the  next  step  to  bn  taken  is  the  examination  of  their  con- 
tents. 

59 


60 


Apologetics 


Old 

Testament 
Promises 
an  Am- 
bassador. 


Miracles 
Were 

Christ's 
Credentials. 


Definition 
of  Miracle. 


The  church  believes  and  teaches  that  the  claims  set 
forth  in  the  sacred  Scriptures  are  true  and  of  divine  au- 
thority. In  these  Scriptures  one  of  the  most  significant 
features  is,  that  tliey  profess  to  teach  a  divinely-revealed 
religion  expressly  for  the  betterment  of  mankind  and  the 
glory  of  God.  This  religious  system  is  called  Chris- 
tianity. In  the  Old  Testament,  almost  from  its  opening 
pages  to  its  close,  reference  is  had  to  an  ambassador  to 
be  sent  from  God,  who  should  "redeem  Israel."  In  the 
New  Testament,  constant  and  grand  reference  is  had 
to  Jesus  Christ  as  the  Saviour  and  Teacher,  sent  from 
God,  of  whom  "Moses  in  the  law,  and  the  prophets  did 
write,"  "Jesus  the  Son  of  God."  In  turn,  Jesus  persist- 
ently appealed  to  the  miracles  he  performed  as  the  evi- 
dence of  his  divine  commission.  His  miracles,  he  in- 
sisted, were  his  credentials  from  the  court  of  Heaven  of 
his  divine  ambassadorship.  "The  works  that  I  do"  was 
his  constant  appeal.  "Go  your  M^ay  and  tell  John, 
.  .  .  the  blind  receive  their  sight,  and  the  lame  walk, 
the  lepers  are  cleansed,  and  the  deaf  hear,  and  the  dead 
are  raised  up."  Such  were  some  of  his  miracles — work 
of  a  superhuman  character,  and  altogether  outside  of  the 
natural  course  of  things,  and  this  also  may  be  said  of  all 
the  miracles  recorded,  both  in  the  Old  and  the  New  Tes- 
tament. They  are  superhuman  acts,  and  are  not  in- 
cluded nor  accounted  for  in  the  natural  course  of  things. 

2.  A  miracle,  then,  is  an  event  which  nature's  forces 
cannot  produce,  taking  place  in  connection  with  a  person 
professing  to  be  sent  from  God,  and  intended  to  be  the 
proof  of  his  divine  mission.  The  occurrence  is  purely 
supernatural,  and  must  be  referred  to  God,  the  author 


Miracles — Their  Credibility  and  Intent         61 

of  nature.  It  is  an  act  the  like  of  which  has  never  oc- 
curred by  natural  causation,  and  never  will  occur  by  nat- 
ural causation.  An  acute  thinker  says,  "A  miracle  is  a 
fact  the  like  of  which  has  never  occurred  or  ever  will 
occur,  but  for  the  same  purpose.^'  What  are  the  naked 
facts  in  the  case  of  miracles?  Since  the  world  be- 
gan it  was  not  known  that  a  deaf  man  at  a  word  re- 
ceived his  hearing,  or  that  a  man  actually  dead  four 
days  and  stank,  at  a  word,  in  a  moment,  stood  up  in 
vigor  and  activity ;  or  that  a  man  born  blind,  by  having 
his  eyes  anointed  with  spittle  and  clay,  instantly  received 
his  sight;  or  that,  at  a  word,  the  tempest  was  hushed 
and  the  sea  calmed ;  or  that,  by  the  stretching  of  a  rod 
over  a  mighty  river,  the  waters  rolled  back  and  a  whole 
nation  passed  over  dry-shod.  These  and  like  events  the 
Scriptures  affirm  on  different  occasions  and  for  specific 
purposes,  without  precedent,  and  unparalleled,  have 
taken  place,  all  of  which  are  miraculous.  But  because 
a  miracle  is  a  supernatural  event,  it  is  not  to  be  inferred 
that  the  event  is  something  not  manifest,  a  something 
that  cannot  be  known  and  apprehended  by  man. 

3.  To  distinguish  between  true  miracles  and  a  class 
of  occurrences  recorded  in  the  Bible,  which  stand  mid- 
way between  the  miracles  and  the  ordinary  occurrences   Miracles 

of  nature  is  vital;  and  it  is  readily  admitted  that  the  ^istin- 

"^                        .  guished 
line  which  separates  is  not  well  defined.     Owing  to  a  from  Ex- 
failure  upon  the  part  of  the  apologist  to  make  the  needed  ^raordinary 
,  ^                ^                        r       o  Occurrences 
distinction,  not  unfrequently  he  has  put  a  dangerous  of  Nature. 

weapon  into  the  hand  of  his  antagonist.  It  may  be  said, 
in  truth,  a  sparseness  of  miracles  obtains  throughout  the 
Scriptures  far  beyond  what  men  ordinarily  would  ex- 


62  Apologetics 

pect;  and  yet  they  are  of  a  sufficient  number  to  accom- 
plish the  purpose  for  which  they  were  introduced.  The 
true  miracles  performed  were  not  to  gratify  vain  curi- 
osity, nor  to  secure  some  selfish  interest  for  the  per- 
former, but  only  to  benefit  others.  In  the  marvelous  life 
of  Jesus,  in  his  hunger  in  the  wilderness,  thirsting  at 
the  well  of  Jacob,  in  Sychar,  pressed  by  his  enemies, 
betrayed  by  his  friend,  scourged,  spat  upon,  and  cruci- 
fied at  last,  notwithstanding,  he  was  the  power  behind 
and  above  nature,  and  controlled  her  forces;  and  while 
he  could  have  called  to  his  Father,  who  would  have 
put  more  than  twelve  legions  of  angels  at  his  disposal, 
he  performed  no  miracle  in  his  behalf;  all  were  in 
the  interest  of  others.  Now,  such  occurrences  in  his 
life  after  his  resurrection,  as  appearing  in  the  house 
with  his  disciples,  "the  doors  having  been  shut,"  and 
his  walk  and  his  talk  with  the  two  on  their  way  to 
Emmaus;  also,  his  appearing  to  his  disciples  at  the 
Sea  of  Tiberias,  as  well  as  some  peculiar  occurrences 
which  transpired  prior  to  his  crucifixion,  such  as  his  es- 
cape from  the  multitude  at  Nazareth,  and  his  act  of  rid- 
ding the  temple  of  the  money-changers,  seem  to  be  un- 
necessarily placed  in  the  category  of  his  miracles.  In- 
deed, it  is  doubtful,  to  say  the  least,  if  the  recorders  of 
these  occurrences  in  their  Master's  eventful  life  regarded 
them  as  miraculous,  but  two  have  often  found  their 
place  there  by  false  interpretation.  Now,  there  is  a  class 
of  events  which  stood  midway  between  the  class  of  oc- 
currences just  mentioned  and  clear,  unquestioned  mir- 
acles, such  as  the  Christ's  resurrection,  opening  the  eyes 
of  the  blind,  the  burning  bush,  and  Elijah's  calling  fire 


Miracles— l^heir  Credibility  and  Intent         63 

out  of  heaven  upon  his  altar  at  Mt.  Carmel.  Such  by 
some  are  called  mediate  miracles.  In  this  class  of  events 
there  is  both  a  miraculous  application  and  adaptation  of 
the  forces  of  nature  to  them.  They  are  occurrences  pro- 
duced by  natural  laws  supernaturally  applied.  In  this 
class  is  included  such  events  as  the  Noachian  deluge, 
Joseph  sold  into  Egypt,  destruction  of  Sodom  and  Go- 
morrah, crossing  of  the  lied  Sea  by  the  Israelites,  and 
others  recorded  both  in  the  Old  and  the  New  Testament. 
Then,  with  this  distinction  before  the  mind  relative  to 
the  events  unequivocally  miraculous,  and  the  mediate  (i-gflj|,jm_ 
miracles  recorded  in  the  Scriptures,  and,  holding  each  of  Miraciea 
in  its  own  category,  we  proceed  to  discuss  the  credibility 
of  miracles  in  general. 

We  again  state  in  a  broader  sense  what  we  have  already 
implied  in  part,  namely,  that  those  who  are  reputed  in 
the  Scriptures  to  have  claimed  that  their  commission  was 
from  God  always  appealed  to  the  miracles  which  they 
performed  as  sufficient  evidence.  Moses  did  this  at  the 
court  of  Pharaoh,  so  did  Elijah  on  Mt.  Carmel,  Christ 
also  did  the  same  thing,  and  when  he  commissioned  his 
disciples  he  promised  like  power  from  the  Father  upon 
them. 

It  will  not  be  questioned  by  well  informed  men  but 
that  at,  or  about  the  time  of  the  birth  of  Christ,  an  ex- 
pectation widespread  obtained  that  an  event  of  that  char- 
acter was  about  to  occur.  That  when  he  arrived  at  man- 
hood or  about  the  age  of  thirty,  he  drew  about  him  a  Expected  at 


small  band  of  men,  Jews,  and  that  to  them  he  actually  the  Time 
professed  to  have  come  from  heaven,  the  spirit  world,  and 
that  he  really  and  truly  was  God's  ambassador  and  the 


64  Apologetics 

bearer  of  important  messages  from  his  Father  to  the 
world.  That  to  confirm  his  discipies  and  others  in  the 
belief  of  liis  divine  ambassadorsliip,  lie  gave  sight  to  men 
who  were  born  blind,  and,  by  a  word,  raised  the  dead  to 
life,  and  other  like  superhuman  acts,  and  also  that  he 
endowed  his  disciples  with  a  like  power.  That  subse- 
quently he  was  crucihed,  dead,  buried,  and  that  on  the 
third  day  he  rose  from  the  dead.  The  claim  that  his 
discipies  set  up  in  the  gospel  was,  that  it  had  brought  life 
and  immortality  to  light  through  the  gospel,  and  that 
by  his  resurrection  Christ  had  abolished  death.  The 
claim  rested  on  the  belief  that  he  had  appeared  and 
talked  with  a  body  of  men  at  different  times  after  his 
resurrection,  and  men,  too,  who  had  not  previously  be- 
lieved that  the  Christ  himself  was  to  die  and  again  rise. 
These  men,  and  especially  his  disciples,  accepted  his 
resurrection  as  a  demonstration  of  the  fact,  first,  that 
there  is  life  after  death;  and,  second,  that  he  was  the 
Christ,  the  Son  of  the  living  God — God's  ambassador, 
Discipies       man's  Saviour. 

Evidence  of  I'^ese  men  who  were  the  eye-witnesses  of  Jesus  before 
Resiurec-  and  after  his  resurrection,  believed  that  he  was  the  first- 
fruits  of  a  system  introduced  from  heaven  among  men, 
which,  when  perfected,  would  embrace  all  earth's  sorrow- 
ing children,  who  were  united  to  their  Master  by  a  living 
faith  in  the  same  glorious  immortality  that  was  mani- 
fested in  their  risen  Lord.  Mark  the  emphasis  of  Paul 
on  the  resurrection  of  Christ  and  the  importance  he  at- 
tached to  it.  "If  Christ  hath  not  been  raised,  then  is 
our  preaching  vain,  your  faith  also  is  vain.  Yea,  and 
we  are  found  false  witnesses  of  God;  because  we  wit- 


tion. 


Miracles — Their  Credibility  and  Intent         66 

nessed  of  God  that  he  raised  up  Christ ;  whom  he  raised 
not  up,  if  so  be  that  the  dead  are  not  raised.  For  if  the 
dead  are  not  raised,  neither  hath  Christ  been  raised :  and 
if  Christ  hath  not  been  raised,  your  faith  is  vain ;  ye  are 
yet  in  your  sins." 

His  resurrection  was  admitted  as  a  matter  of  fact,  as 
was  also  his  personal  ascension,  in  the  presence  of  many, 
up  into  heaven.  These  events  did  not  occur  in  secret, 
but  openly,  as  the  record  states  that  he  appeared  to  as 
many  as  five  hundred  persons  at  one  time,  after  his  res- 
urrection. But  the  objector  says :  "The  guardsmen  who 
watched  the  sepulcher  in  which  the  body  of  Christ  was 

laid  said,  "His  disciples  came  by  niffht  and  stole  him 

./        o  Resurreo- 

away  while  we  slept."    If  they  were  asleep,  how  did  they  tion  a  Proof 

know  what  became  of  the  body  in  the  tomb  they  were  of  Chrisfs 

guarding  ?    The  record  says  these  guardsmen  were  bribed  dorship  and 

to  make  this  false  statement.     But  from  the  very  fact  of  Life  after 

Deatli 
of  the  disciples'  belief  in  the  resurrection  of  their  Lord 

they  put  it  into  history,  and  that  history  is  witli  us  now ; 
they  braved  scorn,  insult,  derision,  hardship,  poverty, 
torture,  and  death  itself  that  the  gospel  of  their  Lord 
might  be  preached  and  the  commission  he  gave  to  them 
be  carried  out.  They  received  it  not  only  as  a  matter-of- 
fact  demonstration  of  his  ambassadorship  from  God  the 
Father,  but  also  as  a  proof  conclusive  of  life  after  death. 
And  it  may  be  here  stated,  that  unless  we  allow  that 
Christ  rose  from  the  dead  the  world  has  no  physical 
proof  in  favor  of  immortality,  but  to  admit  the  fact,  a 
future  state  becomes  more  than  probable — it  becomes 
possible,  an  established  fact  in  history. 

The  proofs  of  revelation  are  sufficiently  strong  to  pro- 


66  Apologetics 

duce  belief,  were  it  not  for  a  supposed  presumption 
which  to  many  minds  seems  to  rest  against  them;  that 
Presump-      jg^  a  supposed  presumption  against  miracles,  on  the 
Miracles        ground  that  it  would  not  be  scientific  to  admit  their  pos- 
as  not  sibility,  on  the  one  hand ;  and,  on  the  other,  even  if  they 

were  possible,  it  would  be  unphilosophical  to  admit  that 
they  could  be  proved.  This  presumption  rests  on  the  as- 
sumption that  an  event  produced  not  by  a  natural  law 
would  be  an  action  without  a  cause.  This  is  a  miscon- 
ception, and  is  the  result  of  holding  a  false  notion  rela- 
tive to  natural  law.  Natural  law  is  God's  will  exercised 
in  nature,  as  is  manifested  in  established  sequences  of 
natural  phenomena.  Thus  God  is  the  author  and  cause 
of  all  natural  law,  which  is  the  exertion  of  his  will  over 
nature,  primarily  to  accomplish  his  own  purposes. 
When  a  miracle,  then,  occurs,  it  is  the  result  of  the  ex- 
ertion of  the  will  of  God  and  author  of  nature  to  accom- 
plish a  specific  purpose,  which  primarily  is  his  own. 
Thus  miracles  are,  in  this  sense,  not  out  of  accord  with 
nature,  but  in  accord  with  her,  the  same  Creator  and 
Judge  acting  in  both,  and  the  Author  both  of  natural 
and  supernatural  phenomena. 

1.  In  a  miracle,  the  end  to  be  accomplished  is  special ; 
a  dead  man  is  to  be  brought  to  life,  a  rod  is  to  become  a 
serpent.  It  is  for  a  specific  purpose,  God  signing  his 
ambassador's  credentials.  Pharaoh  is  to  be  convinced 
that  Moses  is  God-sent.  Every  miracle  in  the  Bible  is 
special,  and  every  purpose  is  specific,  but  all  tending  to 
the  accomplishing  of  a  general,  grand  purpose,  namely, 
to  establish  the  divine  authority  of  revelation  and  its 
religion  among  men. 


Miracles — Their  Credibility  and  Intent        67 

But,  it  is  said,  nature  is  uniform  in  all  her  works, 
and  miracles  are  out  of  accord  with  that  uniformity. 
That  is  true  only  in  a  sense,  that  is,  in  so  far  as  human  Qiji-ction 
experience  and  observation  go.  But  no  man  who  is  Based  on 
acquainted  with  the  best  science  of  the  closing  decade  xjnlfonnltT 
of  this  best  century  of  the  ages  would  venture  to  say 
that  nature  has  always  been  uniform  in  the  sense  the 
objector  uses  the  term, — that  the  sun,  in  the  infinite 
sweep  of  eternity  that  is  past,  always  rose  and  set  as  it 
now  does,  and  that  the  moon  and  the  stars  always  shone 
out  as  they  now  do;  that  the  first  oak-tree  sprang  from 
an  acorn,  which  grew  on  an  oak-tree,  as  acorns  now  do. 
The  material  universe  has  not  been  from  everlasting 
time ;  science  says  it  had  its  beginning  in  time  and  will 
end  in  time,  and  thus  declares  creation  the  miracle  of 
miracles.  Man  was  not  always  an  inhabitant  of  his  pres- 
ent home — this  earth.  On  this  subject  science  speaks 
out  with  no  uncertain  sound.  Geological  science  shows 
clearly  that  our  planet  was  once  a  molten  mass  and  not 
capable  of  sustaining  any  forms  of  life.  This  truth 
God  has  recorded  in  the  rock-written  history  of  the  dead 
ages.  Man  as  well  as  other  forms  of  life  had  a  begin- 
ning in  time.  No  scientific  man  will  claim  that  his 
advent  here  was  in  accord  with  the  present  order  of  gen- 
eration. In  the  language  of  modern  science,  "Our  mod- 
ern knowledge  enables  us  to  look  back  almost  with  certi- 
tude to  the  time  when  there  was  nothing  but  gravitating 
matter  and  its  potential  energy  throughout  the  expanse, 
.  .  .  and  thus  forming  in  time  separate  solar  or  stel- 
lar systems.  We  have  thus  reached  the  beginning  as 
well  as  the  end  of  the  present  visible  universe,  and  have 


G8  Apologetics 

come  to  the  conclusion  that  it  began  in  time  and  will 
in  time  come  to  an  end."^  Says  the  same  scientific 
writer:  "Now  we  believe  that  an  extension  of  purely 
scientific  logic  desires  us  to  receive  as  quite  certain  the 
occurrence  of  two  events  which  are  as  incomprehensible 
as  any  miracle.  These  are :  the  introduction  of  visible 
matter  and  energy  and  visible  living  things  into  the  uni- 
verse. Furthermore,  we  are  led  by  scientific  analogy  to 
regard  the  agency  in  virtue  of  which  these  two  astound- 
ing events  were  brought  about  as  an  intelligent  agency, 
an  agency  whose  choice  of  the  time  for  action  is  deter- 
mined by  considerations  similar  in  their  nature  to  those 
which  influence  a  human  being  when  he  chooses  the 
proper  moment  for  the  accomplishment  of  his  purposes." 

If,  then,  it  be  true  that  science  acknowledges  an  event 
so  stupendous  as  that  of  creation,  for  no  Bible  miracle 
is  greater  and  further  removed  from  the  natural  course 
of  events,  how  can  the  objector  on  scientific  grounds  ob- 
ject to  the  Christian  miracles  ?  Is  it  not  clear  that  to 
admit  the  miracle  of  creation  not  only  sweeps  from  the 
field  every  form  of  supposed  scientific  presumption 
against  miracles,  but  also  removes  the  discussion  regard- 
ing miracles  wholly  from  the  domain  of  science?  And, 
too,  for  the  very  best  of  reasons,  namely,  that  pure  scien- 
tific logic  admits  the  occurrence  of  events  equally  as 
great  and  none  the  less  supernatural. 

2.  There  is  a  principle  in  nature  that  seems  to  be  at 
variance  at  least  with  one  of  nature's  laws.  Gravita- 
tion would  bind  all  matter  to  the  earth  as  with  a  chain, 
but  life  breaks  the  chain.    Life  in  the  lily,  in  the  very 

*  Unseen  Universe,  page  128. 


Miracles — Their  Credibility  and  Intent         69 

teeth  of  the  law  of  gravitation,  which  would  draw  it  to 
the  earth,  pushes  it  up  until  it  throws  open  its  corolla 
to  the  bright  sunlight,  a  thing  of  beauty.  Life  in  the 
bird  bids  defiance  to  gravity,  and  at  pleasure  it  rises  from 
the  earth  and  swims  in  the  air.  In  a  creature  whoso 
knowledge  and  experience  were  limited  to  bodies  with- 
out life  and  always  in  a  state  of  rest,  the  information 
that  there  is  a  principle  of  life,  and  such  and  such  are 
some  of  its  phenomena,  would  cause,  doubtless,  many 
false  presumptions  to  arise,  not  only  against  the  prin- 
ciple itself,  but  against  the  phenomena  in  particular. 
All  these  presumptions  would  spring  from  his  limited 
experience  and  rest  on  his  lack  of  knowledge  in  each 
particular  case;  but  experience  in  the  world  of  activity 
and  observation  on  the  course  of  nature  would  soon  dis- 
sipate all  his  false  presumptions.  Just  so  with  man 
relative  to  miracles ;  every  supposed  presumption  against 
them  rests  on  his  limited  experience  and  lack  of  knowl- 
edge of  facts  pertaining  to  the  universe.  When  St.  Paul 
spoke  to  the  Greeks  of  the  "resurrection  of  the  dead," 
"some  laughed."  but  not  one  of  the  eye-witnesses  of  the 
resurrection  of  Lazarus  or  the  raising  of  the  widow's  son 
either  laughed  or  questioned  the  reality  of  the  fact;  at 
least,  neither  friend  nor  foe  recorded  anything  to  the 
contrary.  It  is  so  with  all  the  recorded  miracles  of  the 
Bible;  no  ej^e-witness  to  them,  either  friend  or  foe, 
questioned  their  reality.  True,  some  attempted  to  ac- 
count for  them  in  some  way  other  than  by  divine  power, 
and  thus  unwittingly  admitted  the  reality  of  the  events 
in  question. 

3.     The  objection  to  miracles  seems  to  imply  that  the 


70  Apologetics 

infinite  Father  may  not  change  the  course  of  his  provi- 
dence other  than  man  has  experienced  it  to  be,  for  the 
benefit  of  his  children.  Surely,  the  Almighty  Will  is  not 
bound  either  by  nature  or  by  fate.  We  admit  that  the 
earthly  parent  may  change  his  course  of  government  in 
his  family,  and  he  really  does,  sometimes  by  giving  more, 
sometimes  by  withholding  knowledge  from  his  offspring. 
To  recognize  a  like  freedom  and  disposition  in  the  in- 
finitely wise  and  infinitely  good  Father  is  all  that  is 
necessary  to  admit  of  miracles.  God  is  not  limited  in 
his  resources,  but  keeps  his  hand  on  all  his  works.  Man's 
difficulty  seems  to  lie  in  the  fact  that  his  own  knowledge 
is  finite  and  his  experience  very  limited,  and  that  he  is 
unwilling  to  concede  to  God  what  he  knows  himself  not 
to  possess.  The  human  being  who  has  no  knowledge  of 
the  growth  of  vegetation,  who  has  never  seen  a  forest  or 
witnessed  the  building  of  a  house  or  the  erection  of  any 
other  building,  who  has  no  knowledge  of  the  lumber 
out  of  which  the  house  even  in  which  he  was  born  and 
reared  was  constructed,  or  of  any  other  building,  or 
of  the  manner  in  which  that  timber  grew  and  the 
process  by  which  it  was  manufactured  into  lumber 
and  then  constructed  into  a  house, — if,  I  say,  such  a 
human  being  were  to  be  placed  in  the  great  forests  of 
the  State  of  Washington,  and  to  comprehend,  as  he 
looked  upon  and  marveled  at  the  growth  of  the  forest, 
that  this  was  one  of  the  steps  taken  by  the  Creator  of 
the  universe  toward  erecting  a  house  like  to  that  in 
which  he  was  born,  would  it  be  less  a  marvel  to  him 
than  to  be  told  that  at  a  word  a  blind  man  had 
received  his  sight?     Or,  again,  as  he  looked  upon  the 


Miracles — Their  Credibility  and  Intent  71 

woodsman  felling  the  trees,  and  the  lumberman  with  his 
great  saws  ripping  the  trees  into  boards,  planks,  shingles, 
and  scantlings,  if  he  were  told  that  these  men  were  en- 
gaged in  erecting  houses  and  barns  and  building  cities, 
would  there  not  arise  in  his  mind  at  every  stage  in  the 
processes  thus  far  named  persumptions  against  the 
building  of  a  house  ?  It  is  only  when  the  end  is  attained, 
the  structure  complete,  that  the  human  mind  can  trace 
back,  step  by  step,  the  different  processes  that  led  up  to 
its  completion. 

It  will  be  readily  admitted  that,  even  if  man  had 
knowledge  beforehand  that  a  revelation  was  to  be  given 
him  from  heaven,  he  in  no  wise  could  determine  what 
the  nature  of  that  revelation  would  be,  what  would  be 
the  degrees  of  its  evidence,  whether  it  would  be  oral  or 
written,  whether  it  would  be  communicated  from  God 
direct  to  man  or  by  angels,  or  by  both;  or  what  would 
be  the  nature  of  its  evidence,  whether  it  would  be  ac- 
companied by  miracles  or  not;  or  whether  it  would  be 
given  alike  to  all  men  at  one  and  the  same  time;  or 
whether  it  would  be  given  through  a  series  of  years. 
The  truth  is,  he  could  conclude  nothing  definitely  be- 
forehand about  it.  He  might  conjecture  many  things 
respecting  it,  but  his  conjectures  would  be  as  likely  false 
as  true.  But  there  is  one  fact  in  revelation  which 
stands  out  clear  and  definite,  namely,  its  similarity  to 
the  whole  scheme  of  nature.  Nature's  great  truths  are 
discovered  only  by  those  who  seek  after  them,  and  her 
deep  problems  solved  only  by  the  patient,  faithful  inves- 
tigator. Just  so  in  revelation,  doubts  are  dispelled,  and 
the  truth  becomes  apparent  only  to  the  earnest  truth- 


72  Apologetics 

seeker  in  God's  Word;  for  it  is  a  fact  that,  inasmuch 
as  man  is  made  a  partaker  of  the  divine  nature,  and 
tliat  the  ideas  that  develop  in  the  human  reason  are,  at 
least  in  part,  copies  of  the  archetype  that  dwells  in  the 
divine  mind,  he  may  rise  to  the  apprehension  and  recog- 
nition of  the  immutable  and  eternal  principles  of  right- 
eousness, and  by  communing  with  that  which  is  divine 
— the  Word  of  God — he  may  be  inducted  into,  and  made 
acquainted  with  the  deep  things  of  God. 

The  particular  thing  in  nature  is  order,  the  greatest 

principle  is  benevolence — the  universal  adaptation  of  all 

things  to  the  happiness  of  sentient  beings,  the  supply 

Nature  of   all   wants,   the   alleviation   of   all   suffering.     The 

Orderly         grand  harmony  and  order  that  obtains  in  nature  is 
Under  Law.    ^  '' 

marvelous,  and  one  of  the  great  lessons  which  it  teaches 

is,  that  its  Author  must  be  a  God  of  order.  One  king- 
dom stands  above  another — the  animal,  the  vegetable, 
the  mineral.  Each  has  its  separate  departments,  the 
one  not  infringing  upon  the  other.  The  seasons,  in 
order,  come  and  go — spring,  summer,  autumn,  and 
winter.  These,  in  turn,  and  in  their  order,  give  sec- 
onds, minutes,  hours,  days,  weeks,  months,  and  years. 
What  order,  what  strange  regularity !  And  all,  too,  in 
the  interest  of  benevolence,  happiness,  and  the  allevia- 
tion of  the  sufferings  and  wants  of  God's  creatures. 
So  marvelous  is  this  order,  this  uniformity,  "that  the 
laws  of  the  physical  universe  are  resolvable  into  numer- 
ical relations,  and  therefore  capable  of  being  repre- 
sented by  mathematical  formulae."  This  fact  was  dis- 
covered and  taught  by  Plato. 
In  the  sacred  Scriptures  a  like  order  obtains,  while 


Miracles — Their  Credibility  and  Intent         73 

the  same  end — benevolence — is  kept  in  view.  It  opens 
its  pages  with  the  history  of  creation,  the  fall  of  man  scriptures 
ensues,  then  follows  his  redemption,  and  the  books  close  orderly  and 
with  his  glorification.  Step  by  step  in  universal  order, 
truth  after  truth  is  unfolded,  book  after  book  is  writ- 
ten, until  the  whole  ground  of  human  religious  need 
is  covered.  It  not  only  lays  bare  the  world's  great  sore 
and  sorrow,  but  definitely  states  the  cause,  and  points 
out  the  only  remedy  for  its  cure.  Every  line  that  it 
contains,  either  directly  or  indirectly,  was  written  to 
meet  the  wants  and  alleviate  the  sorrows  of  man.  Like 
nature,  the  particular  thing  in  it  is  order,  the  greatest 
principle  in  it  is  benevolence — the  universal  adapta- 
tion of  all  things  to  the  happiness  of  sentient  beings, 
the  supply  of  all  want,  the  alleviation  of  all  suffering. 

The  sacred  Scriptures  have  a  single  aim — one  end 
in  view,  which  is  never  lost  sight  of;  it  is  never  ob- 
scured, never  darkened.  There  is  no  turning  aside  in 
by-paths,  or  words  used  to  darken  council.     But,  like  The  Aim  of 

the  rush  of  a  mighty  river  to  the  sea,  it  holds  its  way   Scripture 

1       mi  •       •      T  1  •  ,.  is  the  Moral 

steadily  to  the  goal.     This  single  aim,  this  goal  of  the   perfection 

Scriptures  is  the  moral  elevation  and  perfection  of  man.   °^  ^*"* 

"It  aims  and  it  tends  in  all  its  doctrines,  precepts,  and 

promises,  to  rescue  men  from  the  power  of  moral  evil; 

to  unite  them  to  God  by  filial  love,  and  to  one  another 

in  the  bonds  of  brotherhood;  to  inspire  them  with  a 

philanthropy  as  meek   and  unconquerable   as  that  of 

Christ;  and  to  kindle  intense  desire,  hope,  and  pursuit 

of  celestial  and  immortal  virtue."     This  unvarnished, 

a3''e,  this  untarnished  singleness  of  design  which  runs 

through  their  religious  records  is  no  mean  evidence  of 


74  Apologetics 

itself  that  it  is  superhuman.  It  is  without  a  parallel 
in  the  world's  literature. 

How  let  the  chapter  be  closed  with  an  illustration; 
and  while  it  is  true  that  the  figures  used  and  the  com- 
parisons drawn  do  not  always  meet  the  case  in  hand, 
it  is  not  because  there  is  an  intent  to  deceive  on  the 
one  hand,  or  that  the  case  to  be  illustrated  is  without 
truth  in  point  of  fact  on  the  other;  but,  rather,  it  grows 
out  of  human  limitations. 

Suppose  that,  for  untold  generations,  at  a  given  sea- 
son of  the  year,  a  peculiar  class  of  creatures  appeared 
in  our  world;  that  they  had  the  capacity  for  taking 
food  and  drink,  and  that  both  were  necessary  for  their 
sustenance,  but  that  there  was  no  food  or  drink  such 
as  they  needed,  provided  in  nature  for  them;  or,  sup- 
pose that  food  and  drink  by  nature  had  been  provided, 
but  that  they  had  neither  instinct  nor  reason  to  direct 
them  to  the  bounties  provided  by  nature,  nor  did  they 
know  how  to  use  it  when  it  was  given  to  them;  that 
they,  further,  did  not  know  or  perceive  the  difference 
between  land  and  water,  day  and  night.  Now  they 
plunge  into  the  stream  and  are  destroyed,  others  of 
them  walk  over  ledges  and  fall  over  precipices  and  are 
dashed  to  pieces,  while  others,  again,  perish  on  the 
plains  for  want  of  nourishment.  For  generations  the 
same  strange  creatures  have  been  coming,  and  still 
they  come,  only  to  wander  in  distress,  to  famish,  and 
to  die.  You  may  turn  over  every  page  of  written  his- 
tory and  you  will  find  no  record  of  such  creatures  as 
we  have  supposed,  and  then  you  may  go  to  the  records 
of  the  rock-written  history  of  the  dead  ages,  and  there, 


Miracles — Their  Credibility  and  Intent         75 

too,  you  will  search  for  them  in  vain.  Nature's  God 
has  never  brought  into  being  a  creature  for  whose  wants 
he  has  not  made  ample  provision.  *'He  feeds  the  young 
ravens  when  they  cry.'' 

Now,  let  this  illustration  be  applied  to  man  as  he 
really  is.  Take  into  account  the  dignity  of  his  nature 
and  the  place  he  holds  among  earth's  creatures.  How 
much  superior  he  is  to  the  creation  by  which  he  is  sur- 
rounded. He  alone  of  earth's  creatures  is  endowed  with 
reason;  all  below  him,  with  animal  sense.  Take  into 
account,  too,  the  difference  between  mere  animal  sense 
and  the  infinite  faculties  of  a  being  such  as  man  is. 
Now  add  to  all  this,  that  man,  the  creature  to  be  com- 
pared, not  only  has  the  capacity  to  acquire  knowledge, 
but  also  to  cultivate  and  develop  his  faculties,  reason, 
memory,  and  affection,  and  that  he  really  does  this  in 
accord  with  a  natural  law  of  his  being,  and  all,  too, 
without  any  knowledge  whatever  of  a  future  life.  Now 
suppose  that  when  he  has  thus  reached  his  intellectual 
zenith,  with  all  his  aspirations  for  an  endless  life  in 
tune  to  the  most  exquisite  and  sound  thoughts  and  feel- 
ings, amid  his  joys  and  his  sorrows,  his  pleasures  and 
his  pains,  as  he  stands  upon  this  earth  as  it  rolls  in  ma- 
jestic silence  through  the  mighty  void,  with  death  and 
decay  all  around,  and  in  the  presence  of  an  open  grave, 
there  comes  no  voice  from  beyond  the  tomb  to  assure  him 
that  he  shall  live  after  death — to  assure  him  that  death 
does  not  end  all.  This  really  is  man's  condition  if  the 
Bible  is  not  true ;  and  would  not  such  a  state  of  human 
nature  be  more  deplorable,  more  sad,  more  mournful, 
and  more  out  of  accord  and  at  war  with  the  divine  good- 


7$  Apologetics 

ness  than  any  disaster  that  could  at  all  befall  animal 
nature?  The  Author  of  nature  has  provided  amply 
for  all  the  physical  wants  of  his  creatures,  including 
man.  If  he  has  thus  made  provision  for  the  lower  na- 
ture of  man,  is  it  reconcilable  with  his  divine  goodness 
if  he  has  left  unprovided  man's  higher,  spiritual  na- 
ture? Man's  greatest  need  to  secure  his  happiness  here, 
and  to  hold  him  to  a  worthy  life,  is  an  unmistakable 
communication  from  the  infinite  Father  that  death 
does  not  end  all,  that  the  soul  is  immortal,  and  how  he 
must  live  to  secure  the  divine  favor.  This  the  Holy 
Scriptures  claim,  and  Christians  believe  them  to  be; 
and  God  Almighty's  seal  to  his  book  is  the  miracles 
that  were  performed  by  those  whom  he  sent  as  his  am- 
bassadors to  make  such  a  needed  and  unmistakable 
communication. 


CHAPTEE  V. 
Miracles — Continued. 

Two  things  at  least  are  now  manifest :  first,  that  the 
Founder  of  Christianity  and  his  disciples  claimed  to  •»,  .  »w 
perform  miracles,  and  that  the  miracles  which  they  Disciples 
performed  were  the  evidence  of  their  divine  commis-  ^^gardinK 
sion;  and,  second,  that  the  people  believed  the  miracles  Miraciest 
thus  wrought  to  be  genuine.     Now  were  the  disciples 
and  people  deceived  or  not  ?  is  a  very  important  inquiry. 

1.  No  well  informed  person  will  question  the  intel- 
ligence of  the  age  in  which  Jesus  was  born,  nor  the 
general  enlightenment  that  obtained  in  his  native  land 
at  the  time  of  his  nativity.  The  age  of  Greek  litera- 
ture had  culminated  and  was  passing,  or  had  passed;  was 
the  Latin  empire  then  ruled  the  world,  and  Koman  lit-  i»i*emgen* 
erature  was  in  its  zenith.  The  books  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment were  complete;  all  the  Apocryphal  literature  of 
the  Hebrews  had  already  been  written,  and  their  wisest 
doctors  and  priests  then  held  sway  in  the  Sanhedrim. 
The  world's  greatest  poets  had  lived,  written,  and 
passed  away — Homer,  David,  Hesiod,  -^schylus,  Hor- 
ace, and  Virgil.  Philosophy  had  already  swept  over 
the  entire  domain  of  human  thought,  and  some  of  the 
closest  thinkers  representing  any  age  had  already  lived, 
and  the  world  was  in  the  possession  of  their  investiga- 
tions— Socrates,  Plato,  Aristotle,  and  Cicero,  the  ora- 
tor, statesman,  and  author. 

77 


78  Apologetics 

At  the  time  of  the  advent,  the  two  popular  systems 
of  philosophy  were  the  skeptical  and  the  Epicurean. 
The  former  turned  religion  into  a  jest  and  denied  the 
possibility  of  arriving  at  truth,  and  placed  the  mind 
on  a  sea  of  doubt;  the  latter  placed  human  happiness 
in  ease,  which  ultimately  led  to,  and  taught  that  wan- 
ton luxury  and  a  supreme  indiiference,  both  to  the  pres- 
ent and  the  future,  secured  the  highest  good.  There 
was  another  system,  the  Stoical.  This  maintained  that 
virtue  was  the  highest  good.  It  certainly  had  many 
virtues,  and  maintained  some  noble  principles;  but  its 
cold  indifference  to  human  sorrow  and  suffering,  its 
abnegation  of  human  want,  its  stern  self-reliance,  and 
extravagant  exaggerations  of  its  own  virtues  placed  it 
in  strange  contrast  with,  and  in  opposition  to  the  whole 
genius  of  Cliristianity. 

At  this  time,  also,  flourished  the  Jewish  Alexandrian 
philosophy.  It  consisted  in  blending  the  doctrines  of 
Plato  with  Jewish  theology,  and  was  known  as  theo- 
sophic  or  theologic.  All  these  systems,  after  so  many 
Aiezan-  ages  of  patient  thought  and  investigation,  failed  to  re- 
veal God,  and  resulted  only  in  a  heartless  skepticism. 
This  result  not  being  satisfactory,  men  turned  their 
attention  to  Oriental  theosophy  and  sought  there  to 
find  a  solution  of  the  problem  of  human  destiny. 
"Chief  among  the  religious  systems  of  the  East  in  prac- 
tical influence  on  the  Grecian  mind  was  the  Jewish 
theology,  as  presented  in  the  Hebrew  Scriptures,  and 
which,  as  blended  with  the  lofty  idealism  of  Plato, 
formed  this  Jewish-Hellenic  school."  This  system  op- 
posed the  divine  to  the  earthly,-  contemning  the  mate- 


drian 
Pliilosopby. 


Miracles  79 

rial  and  sensible,  "requiring  an  ascetic  emancipation 
of  the  soul  from  the  bondage  of  sense,  and  believing  in 
a  divine  revelation  to  man  in  the  state  of  enthusiasm.'^ 
How  far  this  system  of  mysticism  was  removed  from 
the  benevolent  spirit  and  moral  genius  of  Christianity 
is  too  well  known  to  need  naming  here. 

These  schools  of  philosophy,  while  they  could  not  have 
given  rise  to  Christianity,  nor  in  any  sense  have  favored 
its  promulgation,  were,  nevertheless,  well  adapted  to 
prepare  the  public  mind  to  investigate  the  new  system 
of  religion  and  to  critically  examine  the  grounds  of  its 
claims;  and  if  there  were  any  defects  in  the  proofs 
which  it  introduced  as  evidence,  to  have  exposed  them. 

Civilization  and  learning,  in  the  ancient  world,  were 
then  at  their  zenith,  and,  while  the  age  of  Pericles  and 
Alcibiades  had  passed  when  Greece  was  reduced  to  a 
Eoman  province,  yet  Athens  was  still  a  great  commer- 
cial center,  and  the  Areopagus  the  most  sacred  and 
reputable  court  of  law  in  the  then  known  world.  This 
court  had  then,  and  has  had  a  world  reputation  for  itg 
legal  research  and  the  impartiality  and  weight  of  its 
decisions.  It  is  an  admitted  fact  that,  while  the  Eo- 
man sword  conquered  Greece,  Grecian  philosophy  in 
turn  conquered  Rome.  Julius  Csesar  was  a  pupil  of 
Milo,  and  Cicero  himself  was  a  pupil  of  both  Milo  and 
Philo,  the  latter  of  whom  was  a  refugee  from  Athena 
at  Rome  during  the  civil  war.  Roman  senators  as  well 
as  other  men,  not  a  few,  either  sent  their  sons  to  Greece 
to  be  educated  or  had  Greek  instructors  brought  to 
Rome  to  educate  their  families.  Now  it  was  in  this 
bright,  intellectual  age,  "the  golden  age  of  Rome,"  that 


80  Apologetics 

Jesus  was  born.  And,  too,  it  was  an  age  "proverbial 
for  its  preeminence  in  literature  and  the  arts."  Au- 
gustus Caesar  was  on  the  throne  of  Rome  at  the  time, 
the  twelfth  year  of  his  reign,  and  about  all  that  civili- 
zation and  learning  could  achieve  for  the  world,  it  had 
the  full  and  unembarrassed  opportunity  of  accomplish- 
ing during  his  reign.  The  student  of  history  who  is 
familiar  with  the  classics  of  the  Augustan  age,  yes, 
with  all  forms  of  learning  in  that  age  of  culture,  knows 
well  that  no  other  age  in  human  history  was  so  pecul- 
iarly fitted  to  find  the  truth  and  expose  error  as  was 
the  era  of  the  advent  of  the  Son  of  Man. 

Viewing  Christianity  from  this  lofty  attitude,  it  oc- 
cupies a  most  enviable  position.  Not  in  an  unlettered, 
but  to  an  age  celebrated  by  story  and  immortalized  in 
song,  Jesus  first  announced  himself.  He  sent  out  his 
apostles  to  preach  the  gospel  over  classic  ground,  and 
established  his  church  in  the  land  of  Euclid,  Socrates, 
and  Plato,  of  Demosthenes  and  Longinus,  of  Solon, 
Lycurgus,  and  Priam,  of  Homer,  ^schylus,  and  Pin- 
dar; in  the  classic  lands  of  the  yellow  Tiber,  where 
Horace  and  Virgil,  Terence  and  Varro  had  sung  their 
liquid  measures,  and  where  Livy,  Sallust,  Cicero,  and 
Atticus  lived  and  wrote,  the  historic  land,  whose  classic 
halls  had  often  reechoed  to  the  boisterous  Pholloc  and 
the  thundering  dithyramb.  "Countries  that  had  given 
birth  to  such  men  were  not  likely  to  shut  their  eyes 
upon  the  gradual  encroachment  of  a  religion  that 
counteracted  all  their  previous  notions,  and  that  poured 
contempt  upon  their  altars  and  their  gods.'*  Look  for 
a  moment  at  the  constellation  of  great  men  who  lived 


Miracles  81 

during  the  age  Jesus  and  his  apostles  lived,  or  about 
that  time — Seneca,  Lucian,  Quintus  Curtius,  the  El- 
der Pliny,  Tacitus,  Martial,  Epictetus,  Josephus,  Quin- 
tilian;  these  are  the  men  under  whose  eyes,  as  it  were, 
the  gospel  was  preached  and  the  miracles  recorded  in  the 
New  Testament  performed. 

Hence  it  will  be  seen  that,  while  Christ's  immediate 
disciples  were  not  men  of  great  learning,  yet  they,  with 
their  Master,  preached  his  gospel  and  performed  their 
miracles  "in  the  presence  of  men  and  women  of  cul- 
ture and  learning,  who  believed  not  only  their  preach- 
ing, but  also  believed  the  "mighty  works" — the  mir- 
acles— which  were  wrought  by  them  to  be  genuine. 
The  best  evidence  they  could  give  of  their  belief  was 
just  to  do  what  they  did — "become  his  disciples.*' 
Now,  the  only  reward  the  Master  promised  his  dis- 
ciples, and  to  all  who  would  become  his  followers,  was, 
in  a  word,  "eternal  life."  The  proof  he  gave  to  them 
of  his  divine  commission  was  his  miracles.  They  were 
60  situated  as  to  know  whether  his  miracles  were  gen- 
uine or  spurious.  If  his  miracles  were  spurious,  that 
is,  if  the  proof  of  his  divine  commission  was  spurious. 
then  he  was  a  fraud,  and  his  divine  commission  was 
a  farce,  and  his  promised  reward — eternal  life — was  a 
myth.  His  disciples  and  those  who  waited  on  his  min- 
istry, and  were  eye-witnesses  of  his  miracles,  surely 
knew  whether  his  miracles  were  spurious  or  genuine. 
If  they  knew  them  to  be  spurious,  they  also  knew  he 
was  a  deceiver;  if  they  knew  he  was  a  deceiver,  they 
also  knew  his  promise  of  eternal  life  was  a  deception, 
for  then  it  is  not  his  to  give.    Would  a  reasonable  man 


82 


Apologetics 


Apostles 
had  Power 
to  Work 
Miracles. 


become  the  follower  of  another  whom  he  knew  to  be 
a  deceiver  in  hope  of  receiving  a  reward  such  as  eternal 
life,  when  he,  at  the  same  time,  knew  that  the  only 
proof  which  he  gave  of  his  divine  commission  was  a 
fraud,  which  divine  commission,  also,  was  the  only  guar- 
antee that  he  gave  of  his  ability  to  bestow  eternal  life 
upon  his  followers? 

To  assume,  then,  that  Jesus  was  not  God's  ambassador 
to  earth  to  reveal  the  will  of  the  Father  to  his  chil- 
dren, is  to  assume  that  the  disciples  and  recorders  of  his 
gospel  were  the  followers  of  one  whom  they  knew  to 
be  a  deceiver  in  hope  of  receiving  the  reward  of  "eter- 
nal life"  which  he  promised  them,  which  eternal  life 
they  also  knew  existed  only  in  the  brain  of  their  Mas- 
ter; moreover,  that  they  went  forth  hazarding  every- 
thing to  preach  a  gospel  which  they  knew  to  be  false 
for  the  sake  of  one  whom  they  knew  had  tried  to  de- 
ceive them,  and  for  the  sake,  also,  of  a  reward  which, 
in  so  far  as  their  Master  was  concerned,  they  knew  did 
not  exist.  It  requires  here  really  more  faith  to  doubt 
than  it  does  to  believe. 

It  was  not  only  Jesus,  the  recognized  founder  of 
Christianity,  who  claimed  to  perform  miracles,  and  to 
whom  miraculous  power  was  attributed,  but  his  dis- 
ciples and  apostles  made  a  like  claim  for  themselves, 
based  on  the  persumption  of  a  miraculous  gift  having 
been  bestowed  upon  them  by  their  ]\Iaster  in  accord 
with  his  special  promise  ;^  and  to  them  also  many  mir- 
acles are  ascribed.  Now,  these  disciples  and  apostles 
surely  knew  whether  they  had  this  miraculous  gift  or 


*  John  14: 12;  Mark  19. 


Miracles  83 

had  it  not;  whether  they  really  healed  the  sick  and 
raised  the  dead,  whether  the  man  maimed  in  respect 
to  his  limbs  actually  rose  up  and  walked,  and  whether 
their  fetters  in  prison  actually  fell  olf,  and  the  prison 
door  swung  open  at  the  approach  or  touch  of  the  angel. 
Now,  their  whole  course  in  all  their  after  life  was  based 
on  their  professed  conscious  knowledge  of  the  reality 
of  the  miraculous  gift  received  from  their  Master,  and 
then  exercised  by  each  for  himself  on  aihicted  hu- 
manity. In  all  this  they  were  either  deceived  or  not 
deceived,  or  they  were  deceivers.  The  former  was  not 
possible  if  the  latter  were  true;  that  is,  if  they  were 
deceivers,  then  they  led  their  life  of  suffering  and  sor- 
row at  the  sacrifice  of  every  earthly  advantage  and  com- 
fort, in  conscious  knowledge  every  moment  that  their 
professed  miraculous  gift,  and  pretended  exercise  of  it, 
had  no  foundation  whatever  in  truth,  and  that  their 
supposed  hope  of,  and  belief  in,  immortality  beyond  the 
grave,  based  on  the  promises  of  Christianity,  was  a 
lie — but  this  is  not  reasonable,  therefore  the  probabili- 
ties are  that  they  were  not  deceived  and  were  possessed 
of  a  miraculous  gift,  and  that  their  claims  were  true. 
Also,  they  exercised  this  superhuman,  miraculous  gift 
in  the  presence  of  all  the  people,  and  their  miracles  were 
all  open  to  inspection,  and  were  critically  examined.  The 
both  by  friends  and  foes.  ofthf*^' 

2.     The  miracles  wrought  both  by  Christ  and  his  fol-   Miracles 
lowers  were  such  as  to  be  open  at  once  to  inspection  open^S^*^ 
by  the  senses.     They  were  not  sleight-of-hand  perform-   Criticism 
ances,  not  the  trick  of  a  juggler;  nor  did  they  in  any   Detection 
sense  partake  of  that  nature.    A  blind  man  received  his  o^  Fraud. 


84 


Apologetics 


sight,  a  multitude  was  fed  with  a  few  loaves  and  fishes, 
a  dead  man  was  raised  to  life,  a  leper  was  healed — such 
are  some  of  the  miracles  recorded  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment. Also,  these  miracles  were  performed  in  the  pres- 
ence of  mixed  multitudes — men  and  women  of  all 
classes  were  witnesses  of  them,  the  Pharisee,  the  Sad- 
ducee,  centurions,  doctors,  lawyers,  Komans,  Greeks, 
beggars,  publicans,  and  scribes,  yes,  all  classes  were 
duly  represented,  so  that  it  was  truthfully  said,  "These 
things  were  not  done  in  a  corner." 

3.  Again,  the  miracles  recorded  in  the  Scriptures 
cover  a  period  of  not  less  than  from  fifteen  hundred  to 
two  thousand  years.  The  miracles  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment extend  over  or  cover  a  period  of  about  seventy  or 
eighty  years,  which  period,  too,  as  already  stated,  was 
the  most  enlightened  that  belongs  to  the  ancient  world. 
It  need  not  be  here  stated  how  rapidly  the  chances  of 
exposure  multiply  with  the  repetition  of  the  same  fraud 
performed  or  repeated  by  the  same  individual.  But 
these  miracles  were  wrought  through  the  series  of  years 
mentioned,  and  in  every  instance  were  recognized  as 
genuine.  They  were  performed  in  the  villages,  in  the 
towns,  in  the  cities,  and  in  the  country  places.  Some- 
times Christ,  unaccompanied  by  his  disciples,  per- 
formed his  miracles  in  the  presence  of  the  multitude, 
at  other  times  in  the  presence  of  some  or  all  of  his  dis- 
ciples and  apostles.  They  were  not  limited  in  the  marv- 
elous works  to  special  occasions  or  particular  localities, 
but  wherever  a  great  act  of  mercy  was  needed,  or  a  great 
all-important  truth  of  religion  was  to  be  established,  or 
God's  authority  was  to  be  vindicated,  they  performed 


Miracles 


85 


their  miracles,  and  thus  accomplished  their  divine  com- 
mission. 

4.  IS^or  did  either  Christ  or  any  one  of  his  disciples 
ever  fail  in  his  attempt  to  perform  a  miracle.  True, 
while  the  disciples  were  yet  in  the  realm  of  doubt,  they 
failed  to  cure  the  epileptic  boy.  "But  Jesus  rebuked 
him,  and  the  demon  went  out,  and  the  boy  was  cured 
from  that  hour."^  The  cures  effected  were  instan- 
taneous, and  were  not  limited  to  any  one  class  of  dis- 
eases, but  all  manner  of  diseases,  plagues,  and  evil 
spirits  that  obtained  among  the  people  were  cured.^ 
And  they  came  in  crowds  to  see  and  to  hear  and  to  in- 
vestigate, that  they  might  know  the  truth  as  well  as  to 
be  healed. 

5.  It  is  an  admitted  fact,  not  only  that  the  gospel 
miracles  at  the  immediate  time  they  were  wrought  were 
at  once  subjected  to  the  most  rigid  criticism,  but  that 
every  generation  in  Christendom,  from  first  to  last,  has 
subjected  them  to  a  like  critical  examination,  and  yet 
they  stand  untouched  and  untarnished  in  the  category 
of  Christian  evidences.  Every  tide  of  human  thought 
that  has  been  hurled  against  them  has  been  shattered 
and  broken,  and  the  God  of  destiny  has  swept  them 
away.  These  miracles  were  not  only  exposed  to  the 
most  public  scrutiny,  both  of  the  learned  and  the  illit- 
erate, the  wise  and  the  unwise,  but  in  their  very  nature 
they  were  such  that  any  mind  could  examine  them. 
They,  being  performed  in  the  interests  of  a  new  re- 
ligion, and  given  as  its  evidence  of  divine  authority, — 
a  religion,  too,  that  declared  war  against  every  other 


Christ  and 

Disciples 

Never 

Failed  In 

Performing 

Miracles. 


» Matt.  17: 17-19.    »  Luke  7: 21. 


86  Apologetics 

religion  and  pronounced  them  all  false,  and  that  to  suc- 
ceed must  annihilate  all  others, — would,  in  the  very  na- 
ture of  the  case,  not  only  provoke  every  form  of  scrutiny 
and  criticism,  but  also  arouse  a  storm  of  opposition, 
both  from  the  civil  government  and  from  every  form  of 
ecclesiasticism,  as  well  as  from  paganism.  It  is  also  an 
admitted  fact  that  as  miracles  multiplied,  the  storm  of 
opposition  increased,  until  the  most  bitter  persecution 
was  developed,  and  every  miracle  wrought  was  watched 
and  critically  investigated,  with  a  view  to  exposing 
it.  These  miracles,  also,  were  published  and  noised 
abroad,  and  the  people  flocked  together  to  see  the  per- 
sons on  whom  they  had  been  performed,  and  ques- 
tioned them,  as  in  the  case  of  Lazarus.  Their  publica- 
tion at  the  very  time  they  were  wrought,  and  their  be- 
ing appealed  to  as  the  evidence  of  the  divine  commis- 
sion of  those  who  performed  them,  and  the  place  of 
their  occurrence,  and  the  naming  of  the  persons  who 
were  the  recipients  of  them,  afforded  every  possible  op- 
portunity to  the  investigator  to  detect  and  expose  the 
fraud,  if  any  fraud  obtained.  The  four  Gospels  and 
the  Acts,  according  to  the  New  Testament  chronology 
of  Zahn,  were  written  in  the  following  order  and  time : 
Matthew  wrote  his  Aramaic  Gospel  in  Palestine  in  62 ; 
Mark  completed  his  Gospel  while  in  Eome  in  the  sum- 
mer of  64 ;  Luke  wrote  his  Gospel  and  the  Acts  in  75 ; 
and  John  completed  his  Gospel  and  his  Epistles  be- 
tween 80  and  90.  Zahn  is  one  of  the  most  conservative 
New  Testament  scholars  on  the  continent,  and  no  one 
will  charge  him  with  having  set  his  dates  of  the  Gos- 
pels too  early,  while  others  have  assigned  a  date  to 


Miracles  87 

Matthew's  Gospel  not  later  than  the  seventh  or  eighth 
year  after  the  death  of  our  Lord;  but  be  this  as  it  may, 
even  if  the  miracles  received  their  first  publication  in 
the  Gospels  at  the  dates  assigned  by  Zahn,  yet  ample 
opportunity  for  their  examination  was  afforded,  for  the 
witnesses,  or  at  least  many  of  them,  must  have  been 
yet  alive.  But  it  is  a  fact  notorious  in  the  gospel  his- 
tory that  from  the  opening  of  Christ's  ministry  to  the 
death  of  "the  beloved  disciple,"  at  least,  the  working  of 
miracles  was  one  of  the  important  factors  in  all  their 
labors.  Their  miracles  were  admitted  facts,  even  if 
they  were  attributed  to  demons.  The  people  flocked 
to  Jesus  to  be  healed.  The  leper,  the  blind,  the  deaf, 
the  afflicted  of  fever,  all  came  or  were  brought  to  him, 
says  the  record.^  And  then  the  apostles,  in  "his  name," 
wrought  the  wonderful  works  of  God-;  and  appealed 
to  the  people  as  witnesses  of  the  fact  of  his  miracles. 
"Ye  men  of  Israel,"  said  Peter,  "hear  these  words :  Jesus 
of  Nazareth,  a  man  approved  of  God  unto  you  by 
mighty  works  and  wonders  and  signs,  which  God  did 
by  him  in  the  midst  of  j'ou,  as  ye  yourselves  know."^ 
These  appeals  must  have  stung  to  the  heart  every  enemy 
of  the  new  faith,  and  served  as  an  additional  incentive 
to  investigation.  They  Fought  investigation,  examina- 
tion, and  criticism  at  the  hand  of  their  opponents,  and 
afforded  to  them  every  possible  opportunity  to  detect 
and  to  ferret  out  every  conceivable  clue  to  imposture 
and  fraud. 

6.     Now,    the    Author    of    Christianity   was   not    a 
learned  man,  neither  were  his  disciples.    This  is  a  fact 

>Matt.  8:3,  6, 15,  38.    »  Acts  3: 16.     "Acts  22: 22. 


88  Apologetics 

Jesus  and      that  must  be  taken  into  account.    "The  Jews  therefore 

Disciples        marveled,  saying  [of  JesusJ,  How  knoweth  this  man  lut- 

and  80  ters,  having  never  learned  ?"^    Of  his  disciples,  at  least 

Incapable      ^f  Peter  and  John,  it  was  "perceived  that  they  were  un- 

of  Imposing    IT,.  ,, 

on  the  learned  and  ignorant  men.  ^     Nor  were  they  men  of 

Credulity  of  wealth  and  inlluence.    Of  Jesus  it  was  said,  "The  foxes 
theAge.  ' 

have  holes,  and  the  birds  of  the  heavens  have  nests ;  but 

the  Son  of  man  hath  not  where  to  lay  his  head,"^  and 
his  disciples  were  fishermen  and  tax-collectors.  On  the 
supposition  that  Jesus  was  only  a  man,  and  a  pretender, 
how  is  it  conceivable  that  he  and  a  dozen  men  of  only 
like  qualifications,  unlettered  Jews  with  himself,  could 
take  their  place  among  the  educated  and  cultured  of 
society  in  that  marvelous  age  of  learning,  and  establish 
such  a  stupendous  religious  fraud  upon  the  world  as 
Christianity?  For  it  must  be  admitted  that  with  his 
pierced  hands  he  has  lifted  empires  from  off  their  hinges, 
revolutionized  both  the  philosophy  and  religion  of  the 
ages,  and  turned  the  current  of  centuries  from  their 
deep-worn  channels.  Also,  it  must  be  borne  in  mind 
tliat  amid  the  strifes,  persecutions,  and  intimidations 
that  obtained  among  the  eye-witnesses  to  the  miracles 
wrought  by  Jesus  and  his  apostles  not  one,  even,  con- 
fessed that  he  was  deceived  or  bribed,  but  always 
averred  the  truth  of  what  he  had  seen  and  experienced. 
Judas,  who  betrayed  his  Lord,  did  not  deny  his  mir- 
acles or  charge  the  Master  with  deception,  but  con- 
fessed that  he  had  betrayed  "innocent  blood."*  No, 
not  one  (while  some,  through  the  severest  torture,  aban- 
doned their  faith  )  ever  professed   that   he.  had   been 

«John7:15.    »  Acts  4: 13.    »Matt.8:20.    *  Matt.  27:4. 


Miracles  89 

deceived  in  the  works  wrought  by  Christ  and  his  apos- 
tles. Surely,  it  would  have  been  an  easy  matter,  and, 
at  the  same  time,  a  creditable  act,  for  such  persons  to 
have  exposed  the  fraud,  if  any  fraud  obtained,  in  the 
marvelous  works  performed.  But  the  records  of  the 
age  do  not  furnish  a  confession  from  any  one  who 
turned  away  from  his  Lord  that  he  had  been  deceived. 
Surely,  those  who  embraced  Christianity  were  made  ac- 
quainted with  its  secrets,  and  if  there  were  any  fal- 
lacies, they  knew  them,  and  could  have  exposed  them. 
This  they  did  not  do.  In  the  presence  of  all  the  accu- 
sations that  were  charged  against  Jesus,  and  having 
listened  to  the  testimony,  and  after  a  personal  examina- 
tion of  the  accused,  Pilate  said,  "I  find  no  fault  in 
him,"  and  even  went  so  far  as  to  wash  his  hands  and 
aver,  "I  am  innocent  of  this  man's  blood." 

7.     K'ow  a  word  or  two  more  about  the  real  charac- 
ter of  the  miracles  themselves.     It  will  be  readily  ad- 
mitted that  they  were  either  true  or  false.    If  they  were 
false,  as  stated  elsewhere,  the  persons  who  performed  The 
them  knew  it,  and  could  not  have  been  good  men,  but  ^^ff*****' 
deceivers,  for  it  is  not  supposable  that  by  some  strange  Miracles 
infatuation  they  were  self-deceived.    It  is  not  conceiv-  ^A^^Im-- 
able  that  a  sane  man  can  so  deceive  himself  and  the  en-  imposilUe. 
tire  community  as  to  believe  that  he  has  raised  a  dead 
man  to  life,  that  they  are  dining  with  him  at  the  table, 
for  in  such  a  miracle,  be  it  remembered,  on  the  assump- 
tion that  it  is  a  self-deception,  three  classes  must  be 
deceived :  first,  the  miracle  performers ;  second,  the  per- 
son upon  whom  the  miracle  is  wrought;  and,  third,  the 


90  Apologetics 

eye-witnesses.  It  is  not  conceivable  that  such  a  speciefi 
of  deception  could  have  obtained  through  a  long  period 
of  years,  and  the  deception  remain  a  secret  for  more 
than  eighteen  centuries,  and  the  fraud  never  either  de- 
tected or  exposed.  Surely,  the  miracles  of  the  Scrip- 
tures, neither  in  their  history  nor  in  their  character, 
accord  with  the  idea  that  their  agents  were  imposters 
and  were  of  impure  motives.  Most  truthfully  says  an 
able  apologist,  "But  most  singularly,  contrary  to  all  ex- 
perience and  all  law,  on  the  assumption  that  the  mir- 
acles of  Christ  and  his  apostles  were  fictitious,  you  dis- 
cover nothing  in  them  but  what  is  entirely  worthy  of 
the  majesty,  holiness,  justice,  and  goodness  of  the  God 
by  whose  power  they  professed  to  be  wrought."  Is  it 
possible  for  man  to  conceive  of  works  more  in  accord 
with  the  dignity,  the  holiness,  and  the  sacred  oltice  of 
the  Saviour  of  men  and  his  apostles,  and  better  quali- 
fied to  endorse  their  high  claims  than  the  gospel  mir- 
acles? These  men,  although  betrayed,  imprisoned, 
mocked,  spat  upon,  and  put  to  death,  all  save  perhaps 
one,  yet  sustained  a  dignity,  serenity,  and  grace, 
and  led  a  life  tliat  is  the  marvel  of  the  ages.  Such  a 
life  is  not  the  life  of  a  deceiver  nor  of  one  who  was 
self-deceived.  Eut  if  they  were  either  deceivers  or  de- 
ceived, their  life,  then,  is  out  of  accord  with  laws  of 
nature  and  the  miracle  of  the  ages.  Says  Origen,  the 
most  learned  of  the  church  fathers  of  his  day,  who 
wrote  a  criticism  on  the  works  of  Cclsus:  "Undoubt- 
edly we  do  think  him  to  be  the  Christ  and  the  Son  of 
God,  because  he  healed  the  lame  and  the  blind;  and 
we  are  more  confirmed  in  this  persuasion  by  what  is 


Miracles  91 

written  in  the  prophecies,  'Then  shall  the  eyes  of  the 
blind  be  opened,  and  the  ears  of  the  deaf  shall  hear, 
and  the  lame  man  shall  leap  as  an  hart.'  But  that  he 
also  raised  the  dead ;  and  that  it  is  not  a  fiction  of  those 
who  wrote  the  Gospels  is  evident  from  hence,  that,  if 
it  had  been  a  fiction,  there  would  have  been  many  re- 
corded to  be  raised,  and  such  as  had  been  a  long  time 
in  their  graves.  But  it  not  being  a  fiction,  few  have 
been  recorded ;  for  instance,  the  daughter  of  the  ruler  of 
a  synagogue,  of  whom  I  do  not  know  why  it  was  said, 
'She  is  not  dead,  but  sleepeth,'  expressing  something  pe- 
culiar to  her,  not  common  to  all  dead  persons :  and  the 
only  son  of  a  widow,  on  whom  he  had  compassion,  and 
raised  him  to  life  after  he  bid  the  bearers  of  the  corpse  to 
stop ;  and  the  third,  Lazarus,  who  had  been  buried  four 
days."  This  is  a  most  wonderful  testimony,  and  I  know 
of  no  appeal  more  explicit,  more  positive,  and  more 
direct  to  the  Christian  miracles  than  the  words  just 
quoted  from  the  eminent  father. 

8.     But  the  gospel  miracles  were  not  false,  their  ene- 
mies being  the  witnesses  to  their  truth.     Is  it  not  re-   Christ's 
markable  that  the  Hebrew  nation  admitted  their  genu-  ^^^^"^ 
ineness?     All  admit  the  Jew's  dislike,  yea,  his  bitter  that  He 
hatred  of  Jesus  and  his  apostles;  also,  his  strong  love  ^^^g* 
in  favor  of  his  own  religious  institution.    Yet  not  one 
denial  of  the  reality  of  any  of  the  miracles  of  the 
Gospels  is  recorded  by  him,  and  this  amounts  to  a  silent 
admission  of  their  genuineness.    But  it  is  a  fact,  that  the 
whole  Hebrew  family  was  astounded  and  speechless  in 
the  presence  of  the  wonders  wrought  by  him  and  his 
disciples,  who  was  to  be  the  light  of  Israel.    Is  it  also 


92  Apologetics 

not  a  singular  fact  that  no  one,  either  Jew  or  Gentile, 
ever  detected,  or  was  supposed  or  professed  or  was  re- 
ported to  have  professed  to  have  detected  any  imposture 
or  fraud  in  the  gospel  miracles?  On  this  feature  of 
that  age  history  is  utterly  mule,  from  which  but  one 
inference  can  be  drawn,  namely,  that  the  recorded  mir- 
acles of  the  gospel  were  at  that  time,  both  by  friend  and 
foe,  recognized  as  facts.  Now,  these  miracles  were  "not 
wrought  in  a  corner,"  as  Paul  states,  but  wherever 
Jesus  and  his  disciples  went  these  miracles  were  pro- 
fessed to  have  been  wrought.  Had  it  been  untrue,  the 
literature  of  that  age,  both  Jewish  and  pagan,  would 
have  been  crowded  with  statements  of  the  fraud.  But 
not  one  line  of  that  kind  was  written;  but,  on  the  con- 
trary, they  were  admitted  to  be  facts.  The  Talmud 
admits  their  reality,  but  vainly  attempts  to  explain 
them  as  the  work  of  magic.  Celsus,  a  pagan  philos- 
opher, who  lived  about  the  middle  of  the  second  cen- 
tury, and  a  man  of  no  mean  genius,  wrote  a  treatise 
against  the  whole  scheme  of  Christianity,  in  which  he 
admits  that  Christ  WTOUght  miracles,  and  asserts  that 
he  had  been  in  Egypt  and  learned  magic  art,  by  which 
he  wrought  miracles,  "which  engaged  great  multitudes 
to  adhere  to  him  as  the  Messiali."  Hieroclcs  also  ad- 
mitted the  verity  of  the  Christian  miracles,  as  did 
Julian,  the  emperor,  who  says,  "Jesus  did  nothing 
worthy  of  fame,  unless  any  one  can  suppose  the  curing 
the  lame  and  the  blind  and  exorcising  demons  in  the 
villages  of  Bethsaida  are  some  of  the  greatest  works."^ 
The  same  author  admits  that  Jesus  had  poAvor  over 

*LardDer,  Vol.  IV.,  pp.  332-842. 


Miracles  93 

demons,  and  that  he  walked  on  the  surface  of  the  sea. 
According  to  Saint  Jerome,  Porphyry,  the  most  learned 
and  critical  of  the  pagan  writers  against  Christianity, 
acknowledged  the  verity  of  these  miracles,  but  ac- 
counted for  them  as  the  work  of  magic,  as  did  Celsus. 
Porphyry  recognized  that  demons  were  subject  to 
Christ,  for  he  says,  "After  Jesus  was  worshiped, 
Esculapius  and  the  other  gods  did  no  more  converse 
with  men."  Quadratus,  a  pagan  philosopher  who  be- 
came a  Christian,  says,  "Those  whom  our  Saviour 
raised  and  healed  were  not  only  seen  while  he  himself 
was  upon  earth,  but  survived  his  departure  out  of  the 
world;  nay,  some  of  them  were  living  in  our  day."^ 

Hence,  not  the  friends  of  Christianity  only,  but  also 
its  enemies  bore  witness  to  the  gospel  miracles.  And 
while  attempts  were  made  by  many  to  account  for 
them  by  magic,  yet  their  reality  was  denied  by  none. 

9.  ISTow  there  is  one  more  fact  that  must  be  noted 
in  this  connection.  During  the  time  that  Christ  and 
his  apostles  were  performing  their  miracles,  yes,  dur- 
ing the  first  century,  many  who  at  first  were  persecutors 
of  the  Christians  afterwards  became  converts  to  the 
faith  they  had  sought  to  destroy.    And  the  chief  factor  persecutors 

which  led  up  to  their  conversion  was  their  positive  ®' 

^  .       ,  ChtlBtlans 

knowledge  and  belief  of  the  verity  of  the  miracles  re-   Become 

corded  in  the  gospel.    Among  the  converts  were  Jews,   Converts. 
Greeks,  and  Eomans.     Each  had  his  own  peculiar  re- 
ligion, which  was  the  religion  of  his  fathers,  and  all  the 
bias  peculiar  to  ancestral  customs  and  institutions  gath- 
ered about  him.    All  history,  both  sacred  and  profane, 

« Euseb.  Hist.  1-4,  c.  3. 


94 


Apologetics 


that  belongs  to  that  age,  is  full  of  the  scorn,  odium, 
and  hatred  that  attached  to  Christianity  in  that  day. 
The  historian  seems  not  to  weary  of  telling  of  the 
cruel  mockings,  the  scourgings,  and  the  bitter  torture 
and  death  to  which  the  Christians  of  the  first  century 
were  subject.  But  in  the  face  of  all  these  obstacles, 
these  men  who  themselves  had  been  persecutors,  broke 
away  from  the  established  institutions  of  their  fathers 
and  embraced  the  faith  which  they  had  despised.  Thoy 
knew  before  they  did  this  the  ridicule  to  which  they 
would  expose  themselves  and  the  odium  that  would 
attach  to  such  a  course.  In  this  they  were  not  deceived, 
but,  possessed  of  a  conviction  that  these  teachers  were 
sent  from  God,  and  that  their  mighty  works  were  Heav- 
en's seal  of  approval  upon  their  claims,  they  embraced 
the  Christian  faith  and  became  its  martyrs.  Had  there 
been  but  one  persecutor  who  afterwards  embraced  Chris- 
tianity, it,  perhaps,  would  be  no  marvel ;  but  there  were 
not  only  scores  and  hundreds  who  did  so,  but  numy  ten 
thousands  did  the  same  thing.  Had  these  converts  been 
predisposed  to  favor  Christianity,  their  testimony  might 
not  be  of  much  weight  in  the  case,  but  having  been 
enemies, — persecutors, — their  testimony  is  ponderous, 
yes,  overwhelming. 

It  is  generally  conceded  that  men  before  acting  are 
always  prompted  by  some  motive.     But  in  the  case  of 

these  men,  what  motive  could  have  prompted  them  to 
Embracing  ,    .  .     . 

cnrisuanity  abandon   their   persecution   and  embrace    Christianity, 

^"•'  and  thus  take  the  place  of  the  persecuted?     It  surely 

Conviction  ^  .         ^ 

of  the  was  not  personal  earthly  gain.     It  could  not  have  been 

Trutn.  worldly  honor.    It  could  not  have  been  worldly  power. 


The  Motive 
In 


Miracles  95 

The  Author  of  Christianity  promised  nothing  of  this 
kind  to  his  followers.  He  told  them,  on  the  other  hand, 
"In  the  world  ye  shall  have  tribulation/'  "Ye  shall 
persecute  [them]  from  city  to  city."^  "Ye  shall  be 
hated  of  all  men  for  my  name's  sake."^  The  conditions 
to  which  the  Christians  of  that  age  were  subjected  are 
most  vividly  set  forth  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews, 
and  in  the  same  epistle  the  reasons  are  assigned  why 
they  underwent  such  conditions  for  the  cause  of  Chris- 
tianity. "And  others  had  trial  of  mockings  and 
scourgings,  yea,  moreover  of  bonds  and  imprisonment: 
they  were  stoned,  they  were  sawn  asunder,  they  were 
tempted,  they  were  slain  with  the  sword:  they  went 
about  in  sheepskins,  in  goatskins;  being  destitute,  af- 
flicted, evil  entreated  (of  whom  the  world  was  not 
worthy),  wandering  in  deserts  and  mountains  and  caves, 
and  the  holes  of  the  earth."^  Is  it  reasonable  that  men 
would  embrace  a  faith  and  espouse  a  cause  which  were 
loading  to  such  issues  when  they  knew  that  they 
were  grounded  on  error?  Such  a  course  is  altogether 
out  of  accord  with  human  nature.  The  true  motive 
which  prompted  these  men  to  change  their  course  in 
life  and  in  religion  is  definitely  set  forth  by  Saul  of 
Tarsus,  who  was  one  of  them,  in  the  defense  before 
Agrippa,  the  king.  The  fact  of  the  resurrection,  and 
the  marvelous  manifestation  from  heaven  which  ap- 
peared unto  him  and  his  company  while  on  their 
mission  of  persecution  to  Damascus  was  overwhelm- 
ingly convincing  to  him  of  the  verity  of  Christ's  mis- 
sion and  of  the  whole  scheme  of  Christianity.    The  lives 

^  John  16:33.  Matt.  23: 34.  *  Mark  13: 13;  John  10: 33.    *Heb.  11: 36-38. 


96  Apologetics 

led  by  these  witnesses  are  an  illustration  of  the  truth 
of  the  testimony  which  they  give  as  the  reason  for  their 
change  in  their  religious  life.  Indeed,  if  such  witnesses 
are  not  to  be  believed,  where  are  we  to  seek  for  testi- 
mony in  proof  of  the  truth  of  any  case  that  comes  under 
the  senses? 

Now  to  recapitulate  the  arguments  adduced  in  this 
chapter : 

1.  The  age  in  which  Christ  and  his  apostles  lived 
and  wrought  their  miracles  was  one  of  great  intellec- 
tual enlightenment  and  learning.  The  civilization,  lit- 
erature, philosophy,  and  art  of  the  ancient  world  cul- 
minated in  that  age,  and  the  human  mind  was  never 
better  prepared  to  test  the  truth  of  miracles  than  at 
that  time. 

2.  The  miracles  performed  were  at  once  open  to  the 
inspection  of  the  senses,  and  their  truth  could  be,  and 
was  tested  by  the  witnesses,  and  the  witnesses  were  from 
all  classes  and  conditions  of  men. 

3.  The  Scripture  miracles  extend  over  a  period  from 
fifteen  hundred  to  two  thousand  years.  The  New  Tes- 
tament miracles,  over  a  period  of  almost  one  hundred 
years,  or,  at  least,  up  to  the  death  of  the  "beloved  dis- 
ciple." The  miracles  thus  wrought  were  always  recog- 
nized as  genuine,  and  were  not  limited  to  any  special 
locality. 

4.  Neither  Christ  nor  any  one  of  his  disciples  ever 
failed  in  his  attempt  to  perform  a  miracle,  except  as 
stated  on  page  85.  The  cures  effected  were  always  in- 
stantaneous, regardless  of  the  nature  of  the  disease. 

5.  These   miracles   were   not  only  subject   to   the 


Miracles  97 

scrutiny  of  the  eye-witnesses,  but  they  have  been  open 
to  the  inspection  and  criticism  of  every  generation  that 
has  lived  since  that  day.  And,  too,  they,  having  been 
performed  in  the  interest  of  a  new  religion,  attracted 
special  attention,  and  must  have  aroused  great  opposi- 
tion and  elicited  the  most  rigid  scrutiny.  Also,  their 
publication  at  the  very  time  they  were  performed,  and 
being  appealed  to  as  a  special  proof  of  the  performer's 
divine  commission,  afforded  ample  opportunity  to  de- 
tect and  expose  fraud.  But  they  were  admitted  to  be 
facts. 

6.  That  Christ  and  his  apostles  were  not  learned  men 
is  an  admitted  fact,  yet  on  the  supposition  that  their  mir- 
acles were  frauds  and  that  Christianity  is  a  deception, 
they,  by  their  fraud,  have  lifted  empires  from  off  their 
hinges,  turned  the  currents  of  the  centuries  from  their 
deep-worn  channels,  and  revolutionized  the  religion? 
thought  of  the  ages.  Of  all  who  embraced  Christianity 
in  that  day,  notwithstanding  the  persecutions  and  in- 
timidations, not  one  confessed  that  he  had  been  deceived 
by  the  miracles  of  his  Lord,  but  even  averred  that  what 
they  had  seen  and  heard  were  matters  of  fact. 

7.  The  miracles  recorded  in  the  Scriptures  were 
either  true  or  false.  If  they  were  false,  the  men  who 
performed  them  must  have  been  bad  men,  or  they  were 
self-deceived.  The  life  of  suffering  they  lived  and  the 
death  they  died  disprove  the  assumption  that  they  were 
bad  men.  On  the  theory  that  they  were  self-deceived, 
in  each  case  three  classes  must  have  been  deceived :  first, 
the  miracle  worker ;  second,  the  recipient  of  the  miracle ; 
and,  third,  the  eye-witnesses ;  that  is,  Jesus  was  deceived 

7 


98  Apologetics 

when  he  is  said  to  have  raised  Lazarus  from  the  dead; 
second,  Lazarus  was  deceived  when  he  was  said  to  be 
dead  and  raised  to  life ;  and,  third,  all  the  eye-witnesses 
were  deceived  when  they  thought  Lazarus  was  dead  and 
supposed  Jesus  raised  him  to  life  again.  This  is  not 
reasonable.  Christ  and  his  disciples  did  not  live  and 
act  the  part  of  self-deceived  men.  More  than  eighteen 
centuries  lie  between  their  day  and  ours,  yet  no  decep- 
tion, no  fraud,  has  ever  been  detected  in  the  gospel  mir- 
acles. 

8.  But  the  enemies  of  Christianity  attest  the  truth 
of  the  gospel  miracles,  also.  Not  one  recorded  case 
from  that  age  comes  to  us  where  an  enemy  of  the  Chris- 
tian faith  denied  the  reality  of  the  recorded  miracles 
of  Christ  and  his  apostles.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  both 
Jew  and  pagan  admitted  their  reality,  but  attributed 
them  to  the  work  of  demons. 

9.  But  this  must  not  be  overlooked  in  this  connec- 
tion, namely,  that  many  who  at  first  were  persecutors 
of  the  Christians  broke  away  from  their  persecution  and 
embraced  Christianity,  and  died  martyrs  to  the  faith. 
These  converts  professed  to  have  been  convinced  of  the 
truth  of  Christianity  by  the  miracles  wrought  by  Christ 
and  his  disciples  and  the  worthy  lives  they  lived. 
Surely,  their  attitude  to  the  Christian  faith  in  all  their 
after  life,  as  contrasted  with  their  life  prior  to  their  con- 
version, renders  them  very  worthy  witnesses. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

Facts  Admitted  in  Christianity. 

As  THE  world  looks  backward,  it  sees  many  important 
milestones  set  up,  marking  the  route  over  which  the 
family  of  mankind  has  traveled.  Some  of  these  stones  Admitted 
mark  definite  epochs  in  human  history.  Christianity  *y  ^^ 
is  one  of  these.  There  is  no  fact  in  history  better  au- 
thenticated and  more  completely  buttressed  about  with 
admitted  proofs  than  are  the  facts  connected  with  the 
advent  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth  and  his  authorship  of 
Christianity.  That  Jesus  was  born  in  Bethlehem,  in 
Judea,  during  the  reign  of  Augustus  Caesar;  that  he 
chose  twelve  men  as  his  disciples  whom  he  trained  for 
the  preaching  of  the  gospel;  that  neither  he  nor  they 
were  learned  men ;  that  he  taught  not  longer  than  three 
years,  from  place  to  place  in  Palestine ;  that  one  of  his 
disciples,  Judas  Iscariot  by  name,  betrayed  him,  and 
that  he  was  condemned  by  the  Jewish  Sanhedrim,  and 
put  to  death  by  crucifixion  under  the  reign  of  Tiberius 
Caesar,  while  Pontius  Pilate  was  the  Eoman  procurator 
at  Jerusalem, — all  are  facts  admitted  by  the  well  in- 
formed. Tacitus,  who  wrote  about  thirty  years  after 
Christ's  ascension,  says,  speaking  of  the  Christians, 
"They  had  their  denomination  from  Christus,  who,  in 
the  reign  of  Tiberius,  was  put  to  death  as  a  criminal 
by  the  procurator,  Pontius  Pilate."^     That  John  the 

*  Tacitus,  Aunals,  15,  Cbap.  *%. 


100  Apologetics 

Baptist,  whose  preaching  preceded  that  of  Christ,  and 
about  whom  much  is  said  in  the  Gospels,  was  put  to 
death  by  Herod,  the  king,  is  verified  by  Josephus,  the 
Jew,  in  the  following  statement,  "Now,  some  of  the 
Jews  thought  that  the  destruction  of  Herod's  army  came 
from  God,  and  that  very  justly,  as  a  punishment  of 
what  he  did  against  John,  that  was  called  the  Bap- 
tist; for  Herod  slew  him,"^ 
Influence  on  ^^  ^  ^^i®^  period  after  the  death  of  Jesus,  his  religion 
Fasanism.  had  made  a  profound  impression,  not  only  upon  the 
mind  of  the  Jew,  whose  religion  was  a  pure  mono-, 
theism,  but  the  pagan  mind,  also,  was  being  powerfully 
influenced  by  what  he  had  taught.  That  he  had  taught, 
while  living,  that  he  was  sent  of  God  to  establish  a  di- 
vine, everlasting,  universal  kingdom,  of  which  he,  the 
^'promised  Messiah,"  was  to  be  the  head,  was  a  fact 
well  understood.  Not  longer  than  three  days  after  his 
death,  his  disciples  and  the  two  Marys  witnessed  that 
he  had  risen  from  the  dead,  and  appeared  to  them  in 
accord  with  the  promise  he  had  made  to  them  before 
his  death.  This  alleged  resurrection  of  their  Master 
they  published, and  proclaimed  it  abroad,  for  which  they 
were  subjected  to  the  most  bitter  persecution,  cruel  tor- 
ture, and  death.  Suetonius  says,  "The  Christians  were 
severely  punished."^  Pliny  the  Younger,  says,  speak- 
ing of  the  spread  of  Christianity  and  the  persecution  of 
the  Christians,  "Multi  omiiis  aetatis,  omnis  ordinis, 
utrusque  sexus  etiam  vocantur  in  periculum"  ("Many 
of  every  rank,  and  of  both  sexes,  were  brought  into 
peril").'     The  same  author  was  magistrate  in  Pontus 

>Antiq.  18,  5-2.      «Huet.  Nero,  Oaud.  Cses.,  Chap.  16. 
"Plin.  Eplet.,  97,  Mb.  10. 


JFhcts  Admitted  in  Christianity  101 

and  Bithynia  in  111  A.  D.,  and  in  his  report  to  the 
Emperor  Trajan,  says,  "Soliti  essent  convenere,  car- 
menque  Christo  quasi  Deo  dicere"  ("They  were  accus- 
tomed to  assemble,  and  to  sing  a  hymn  to  Christ  as  to 
God").  "The  contagion  of  this  superstition,"  he  con- 
tinues, "had  spread,  not  into  the  cities  merely,  but  also 
into  villages  and  into  fields.  The  temples  were  deso- 
late. The  most  sacred  rites  for  some  time  were  sus- 
pended. And  scarcely  any  one  was  found  to  purchase 
victims  for  them."^  Tacitus,  who  wrote  in  64  A.  D., 
speaking  of  the  persecution  of  Christians  by  Nero,  says : 
"This  pernicious  superstition,  thus  checked  for  a  while, 
broke  out  again,  and  spread  not  only  over  Judea,  where 
the  evil  originated,  but  through  Eome,  also,  whither 
everything  bad  upon  earth  finds  its  way,  and  is  prac- 
ticed. Some  who  confessed  their  sect  were  first  seized, 
and  afterwards  by  their  information,  vast  multitudes 
were  apprehended,  who  were  convicted  not  so  much  of 
the  crime  of  burning  Rome  as  of  hatred  to  mankind. 
Their  sufferings  at  their  execution  were  aggravated  by 
insult  and  mockery;  for  some  were  disguised  in  skins 
of  wild  beasts,  and  worried  to  death  by  dogs ;  some  were 
crucified,  and  others  were  wrapt  in  pitch  shirts  and  set 
on  fire  when  the  day  closed,  that  they  might  serve  as 
lights  to  illuminate  the  night."  This  author  states  that 
Nero  "lent  his  own  gardens  for  these  executions,"  and 
took  part  himself  in  the  circensian  entertainment, 
which  he  instituted  for  the  occasion,  "clad  in  the  dress 
of  a  charioteer."^  These  citations  show  not  only  who 
was  the  author  of  Christianity,  but  also  the  country  in 

>  Pliny,  Epistle  97,  liber  10.    ■  Tacitus,  Annals,  lib.  16,  Chap.  44. 


102 


Apologetics 


CliTistlan- 
ity  Changes 
the  Rellglou 
of  the 
Roman 
EmplTO. 


The 

Beginning 
of  Chris- 
tianity and 
the 

Opposition 
to  its 
Foondera. 


which  he  lived  and  established  the  church,  as  well  as  its 
rapid  development  among  the  nations.  But  in  spite 
of  all  forms  of  persecution,  legal  enactments,  and 
threatenings,  the  religion  of  the  cross  moved  on  and 
out  among  the  nations.  In  less  than  two  years  from  the 
death  of  its  Founder,  it  had  overrun  Judea,  and  by  the 
close  of  the  first  century  it  had  spread  over  Syria,  Meso- 
potamia, Persia,  Lybia,  Egypt,  Arabia,  Armenia,  Par- 
thia,  and  the  whole  of  Asia  Jlinor,  and  was  preached  in 
no  small  part  of  Europe. 

When  Jesus  and  the  resurrection  was  first  preached 
in  Eome,  the  empire  was  pagan,  and  her  temples  were 
all  dedicated  to  heathen  gods.  In  313  A.  D.,  Constan- 
tine,  then  emperor  of  Kome,  became  a  convert  to  Chris- 
tianity and  proclaimed  the  empire  Christian.  But  even 
before  his  day,  Arnobius  tells  us  that  "the  whole  world 
was  filled  with  Christ's  doctrine."  He  also  speaks  of 
the  "diffusion  throughout  all  countries,  of  an  innumer- 
able body  of  Christians  in  distant  provinces,  of  strange 
revolutions  of  opinion  of  men  of  great  genius;  orators, 
grammarians,  rhetoricians,  physicians,  lawyers,  having 
come  over  to  the  institution,  and  that  also  in  the  face 
of  threats,  execution,  and  tortures."  The  old  religions 
■which  obtained  in  those  countries  where  and  when  Chris- 
tianity came,  have  been  displaced,  and  now  in  the  clos- 
ing decade  of  the  nineteenth  century  Jupiter  is  without 
a  worshiper,  and  has  not  a  temple  on  the  face  of  the 
whole  earth. 

No  fact  in  history  is  more  obvious  than  that  at  the 
time  of  the  advent  the  religions  of  the  world  were  two 
— Jewish  and  pagan.     Both  of  these  were  hostile  to 


Facts  Admitted  in  Christianity  103 

Christianity.  It  not  only  had  to  make  its  way  against 
religious  prejudice,  but  against  the  intellect  and  learn- 
ing, both  of  Jews  and  pagans.  Christianity  threw  itself 
at  once  across  the  pathway  of  both  these  religions,  and 
with  an  open,  avowed  purpose  of  destroying  them  and 
overturning  their  most  sacred  and  ancient  institutions. 
To  accomplish  this.  Christians  organized  themselves  in- 
to societies,  which  they  called  the  church,  and  under 
this  form  of  organization  a  most  marvelous  development 
has  obtained.  Different  forms  of  church  polity  have 
been  established, — the  rites  of  baptism  and  the  sacra- 
ment of  the  Lord's  Supper,  and  the  change  of  the  Jew- 
ish Sabbath  to  Sunday  and  its  observance,  all  have  been 
in  practice  since  the  days  of  the  apostles. 

At  different  periods  great  church  councils  have  been 
called  to  settle  disputed  theological  doctrines,  and  Churcii 
learned  creeds  have  been  formulated  and  adopted,  which  J^  ^^^^ 
to-day  are  in  force  among  the  churches.  On  the  great  influence, 
problems  of  the  church  and  her  religious  institutions 
so  much  has  been  written  that  the  modern  world  is 
almost  flooded  with  the  literature  of  religious  thought, 
to  a  degree  that  it  pervades,  directly  or  indirectly,  all 
modern  philosophy,  poetry,  science  of  government,  his- 
tory, and  art.  While  these  contributions  have  come 
largely  from  the  pen  of  the  Christian  scholar,  yet  the 
power  of  Christianity  has  been  so  forceful  as  to  often 
influence  the  pen,  not  only  of  the  non-Christian  author 
favorably  on  religious  lines,  but  even  the  pen  of  the 
skeptic  as  well,  for  Strauss,  Eenan,  and  IngersoU  have 
said  many  things  good  of  Jesus. 

No  reasonable  man  questions  but  that  our  modern 


104 


Apologetics 


Influence  of 
CHrlstlan- 
Ity  on 
CiTlllzatlon. 


Christian- 
ity Claims 
to  be  Divine 
and  Appeals 
to  Miracles 
as  Proof. 


civilization  has  been  marvelously  affected  by  Chris- 
tianity. Not  only  its  literature,  but  its  laws  and  its 
institutions  have,  in  a  sense,  been  molded  by  the  Christ 
spirit.  This  could  not  well  be  otherwise,  for  the  kings 
and  the  queens  and  the  presidents  of  our  Christian  civ- 
ilization are  Christians,  at  least  in  name,  while  many 
of  them  are  Christians  in  fact.  While  it  is  true  that 
in  the  name  of  religion  many  wicked  and  atrocious  deeds 
have  been  done,  yet  every  right-minded  person  knows 
they  were  perpetrated  in  violation  of  the  plain  letter 
and  spirit  of  the  Holy  Scriptures.  Aye,  and  the  authors 
themselves  of  such  wicked  deeds  were  well  aware  that 
their  acts  were  wholly  out  of  accord  with  the  teachings 
of  Christ  and  his  apostles. 

Again,  we  repeat  what  we  have  at  least  impliedly 
stated  elsewhere,  that  it  is  an  acknowledged  historical 
fact  that  Christianity  offered  itself  to  the  world,  and 
was  pushed  into  history,  and  demanded  that  it  be  heard 
and  received  upon  the  pretense  of  miracles  publicly 
wrought  as  an  evidence  to  all  peoples  where  the  gospel 
should  be  preached,  of  its  divine  authority;  and  that  it 
was  actually  received  by  multitudes  in  the  age  and  the 
identical  localities  where  its  miracles  were  wrought, 
upon  the  professed  belief  of  the  reality  of  those  mir- 
acles. In  this,  including  the  Jew's  religion  and  their 
Scriptures,  Christianity  is  distinguished  from  all  other 
religions.  For,  surely,  no  well  informed  person  will 
claim  that  Mohammedanism  or  any  other  religion,  ex- 
cept the  religion  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  was  received 
upon  the  fact  of  supposed  miracles  publicly  wrought, 
as  the  miracles  of  the  Scriptures  are  reported  to  have 


Micts  Admitted  in  Christianity  105 

been.  Now,  it  is  a  known  fact  that  multitudes  of  Jews 
and  of  pagans  in  different  parts  of  the  world  where  the 
apostles  preached  and  wrought  miracles,  forsook  the  re- 
ligions of  their  fathers  and  embraced  Christianity,  and 
thus  separated  themselves  from  their  friends  and  ex- 
posed themselves  not  only  to  many  inconveniences,  but 
to  indignities,  as  well  as,  in  a  word,  gave  up  the  world, 
for  that  was  the  condition  of  discipleship.  I  ask,  is  it, 
therefore,  reasonable  that  they  would  have  done  all  this 
had  they  not  positive  knowledge  of  the  truth  of  those 
miracles  upon  a  knowledge  or  belief  of  which  they  pro- 
fessed to  do  it?  Surely,  the  first  converts  to  Chris- 
tianity must  have  believed  them;  that  is,  their  accept- 
ance of  Christianity  was  an  open  declaration  of  their 
knowledge  or  belief  in  the  reality  of  those  miracles. 
And  as  Bishop  Butler  has  said :  "And  this  their  testi- 
mony is  the  same  kind  of  evidence  for  those  miracles  as 
if  they  had  put  it  in  writing  and  these  writings  had 
come  down  to  us.  It  is  real  evidence,  because  it  is  of 
facts  which  they  had  capacity  and  full  opportunity  to 
inform  themselves  of."  For  were  a  fact  expressly  re- 
lated by  one  or  more  ancient  historians,  and  disputed  in 
after  ages,  that  this  fact  is  acknowledged  to  have  been 
believed  by  great  numbers  of  the  age  in  which  the  his- 
torian says  it  was  done,  would  be  allowed  as  an  addi- 
tional proof  of  such  fact,  quite  distinct  from  the  express 
testimony  of  the  historian.  The  credulity  of  mankind  is 
acknowledged,  and  the  suspicion  of  mankind  ought  to 
be  acknowledged,  too;  and  their  backwardness  even  to 
believe,  and,  greater  still,  to  practice  what  makes  against 
their  interest.      And  it  must  particularly  be  remem- 


106  Apologetics 

bered  that  education  and  prejudice  and  authority  were 
against  Christianity  in  the  age  I  am  speaking  of.  So 
that  the  immediate  conversion  of  such  numbers  is  a 
real  presumption  of  something  more  than  human  in  this 
matter.  Now,  it  is  the  combination  of  these  admitted 
facts  of  primitive  Christianity  that  makes  its  accumula- 
tive evidences  so  complete  and  overvrhelming.  It  is  fact, 
not  fancy,  that  the  true  apologist  has  always  presented, 
and  it  is  her  truths  that  the  opponents  of  Cliristianity 
have  had  to  combat,  and  have  vainly  attempted  to  set 
aside.  And,  moreover,  it  is  her  facts  which  exhibit  how 
grand  a  phenomenon  Christianity  is  in  the  history  of 
the  world,  and,  therefore,  the  duty  of  the  apologist  is  to 
make  manifest  that  the  Holy  Scriptures  give  a  true  ac- 
count of  its  origin,  for  on  its  truth,  not  on  fiction,  on 
a  knowledge  of  facts,  not  on  human  credulity,  it  must 
ever  stand  or  fall. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

The  Christ — A  Self-Revelation  of  God  to  Man. 

1.  Christianity  alone  presents  the  only  ideal  char-  Jesus  the 
acter  to  the  world.  It  finds  this  personality  in  its  own  perfect  li^q 
author,  Jesus,  the  Nazarene.  This  Jesus  is  not  a  myth-  the  world 
ical,  but  a  real  character,  whose  nationality  and  country  g^^g^^  ^®' 
are  well  known,  and  whose  birth,  life,  and  death  created 
a  new  era  in  the  world's  history.  He  is  the  historic 
Christ,  whose  character  is  not  made  up  of  negative  vir- 
tue alone,  devoid  of  culpable  traits,  but  a  character 
which,  through  the  vicissitudes  of  the  centuries,  has  in- 
spired the  lives  of  men  with  a  religion  of  love  that  is 
adapted  to  all  men  of  every  age,  temperament,  and  con- 
dition, a  character  which  is  not  only  the  true  type  of 
virtue,  but  inspires  the  strongest  incentive  to  practice 
it,  and  has  exercised  an  influence  so  profound  upon  the 
world  "that  the  simple  record  of  three  short  years  of 
active  life  has  done  more  to  regenerate  and  soften  man- 
kind than  all  the  disquisitions  of  philosophers  and  ex- 
hortations of  moralists  of  all  ages."  Now,  how  is  this 
character  to  be  explained  on  the  principles  of  human 
nature?  In  the  Author  of  Christianity  this  peculiarity 
at  once  is  manifest,  that,  while  all  other  men,  at  least 
in  a  degree,  are  formed  by  the  spirit  of  the  age  and 
their  environments,  in  the  Christ  there  is  no  impression 
or  touch  whatever,  either  of  the  age  in  which  he  lived 

107 


108 


Apologetics 


Jesus  i8 
Cosmopoli- 
tan In  his 
Character. 


Christ's 
Life  on 
Earth  was 
Solitary. 


or  his  environment,  but  he  seems  to  have  been  absolutely 
over  all  and  above  all. 

The  state  of  society  and  the  tastes  and  customs  of 
the  people  of  his  day  are  well  known,  as  are  also  the 
expectations  and  hopes  of  his  countrymen;  yet,  had  he 
been  brought  up  and  lived  in  another  world,  he  could 
not  have  been  more  free  and  untouched  by,  or  exalted 
above  them.  In  character,  he  is  absolutely  cosmopoli- 
tan, having  nothing  temporary  or  local  in  it.  He  stands 
out  among  the  sons  of  men  like  an  oasis  in  a  desert, 
and  from  the  day  he  was  "lifted  up,"  as  the  centuries 
have  swept  by,  his  fame  has  steadily  increased,  and  the 
nations  of  earth  have  been  so  touched  by  his  "drawing" 
power  that  now  he  is  the  most  prominent  figure  and  best 
known  of  all  earth's  children.  Among  the  learned  and 
the  illiterate,  his  history  and  character  are  more  studied 
than  the  history  and  character  of  any  one  member  of 
our  race,  and  more  lives  have  been  written  of  Jesus  than 
of  any  other  man.  These  lives  have  been  written  alike 
by  Christians,  skeptics,  and  Jews.  Out  of  his  teach- 
ings have  come  more  of  joy  and  comfort  to  the  high  and 
the  low,  the  sick  and  the  sorrowing  of  eartli's  children 
than  from  all  that  sages  have  dreamed  and  poets  sung. 
He  has  overturned  empires,  thrown  down  the  temples 
of  Jupiter,  robbed  him  of  his  worshipers,  and  consigned 
him  to  the  oblivion  of  the  past. 

We  find  in  Jesus  nothing  of  the  spirit  of  the  age  in 
which  he  lived.  His  apostles  brought  that  spirit  to 
him,  and  its  strength  is  made  manifest  in  the  slowness 
with  which  it  submitted,  in  these  men,  to  the  teachings 
of  their  Master.    Indeed,  he  was  a  solitary  being,  whom 


The  Christ  109 

none  understood,  living  for  purposes  comprehended  only 
by  himself,  without  the  sympathy  or  support  of  a  singio 
mind.  The  expectation  of  the  advent  of  the  Messiah 
was  at  its  zenith  among  his  people,  and  he  claimed  to 
be  that  person.  But  he  threw  himself  across  the  path- 
way of  the  current  opinions  of  his  countrymen  on  that 
subject  and  resisted  them  without  reserve.  A  temporal 
king  and  a  temporal  kingdom  was  the  Jew's  highest 
expectation — a  leader  that  would  marshal  Israel  and 
take  vengeance  upon  her  foes,  and  establish  the  throne 
of  Davivl  forever  in  Jerusalem.  But  he  declared  him- 
self ;-,  mosienger  of  peace,^  t^  teacher  of  righteousness,* 
the  Savio-:r  cf  the  Gentiles  as  well  as  of  the  Jews,^  and 
that  his  Icingdom  was  not  of  this  world,  but  spiritual.* 
Thus  his  conception  of  the  kingdom  of  God  and  of  the 
Messiah's  reign  was  an  offense  to  his  people.  Nor  did  he 
attempt  in  any  way  to  disguise  his  purpose  or  soften  his 
opposition  to  their  dream  of  ages,  their  most  cherished 
hopes,  and  thus  conciliate  prejudice  and  mollify  tho 
effrontery  of  change  from  long  established  religious  be- 
liefs and  customs ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  he  showed  his 
utter  disdain  for  such  methods,  the  resort  of  ambition 
and  imposture. 

But  with  a  seeming  consciousness  of  the  truth  of  hia 
cause,  the  Founder  of  Christianity  adopted  methods  to 
accomplish  his  high  mission — methods  which  would  at 
once  secure  his  hatred  and  rejection,  which  are  out  of 
accord  with  the  principles  of  our  common  human  na- 
ture, and  which  exonerate  him  from  the  possibility  of 

*JoIin  14:27;  16:3.    'Matt. 5: 6.    *Matt.l2:21.    « John  18:^6. 


110 


Apologetics 


Personal 
Chaxacter- 
iBtics  of  the 
Christ. 


Eis  Ideas 
Were 
Different 
From  All 
Other  Men. 


having  been  prompted  by  selfish  aims  or  inspired  by 
either  ambition  or  imposture. 

2.  Now,  let  us  note  some  of  the  personal  character- 
istics of  the  Christ.  The  period  in  which  he  lived  is 
well  known  to  have  been  remarkably  narrow  and  big- 
oted, and  his  own  nation  particularly  selfish.  But 
Jesus  was  in  nothing  more  marked  than  in  the  vastness 
of  his  conceptions.  Not  the  salvation  of  one  nation, 
but  to  save  a  world,  was  his  mission;  and  yet  so  bound- 
less and  compassionate  was  he  that  not  even  a  sparrow 
falls  to  the  ground  that  does  not  receive  his  Father's 
notice.^  All  that  was  vital  in  ancient  Judaism  he  de- 
veloped from  the  creed  of  a  tribe  into  the  religion  of 
a  world.  All  about  him  was  the  narrow  expectation  of 
the  Jew  that  Messiah  would  deliver  God's  ancient  peo- 
ple at  the  sacrifice  of  the  rest  of  mankind ;  but,  contrary 
to  this  expectation,  he  declared  himself  to  be  the  de- 
liverer and  light  of  the  whole  world,  and,  whether  at  the 
cross  beneath  or  at  the  throne  above,  that  consciousness 
never  forsook  him.  The  conception  of  one  religion  for 
all  peoples  was  his  own,  and  a  thing  unthought  of  by 
either  Jcvf  or  pagan.  Said  Celsus,  "The  man  who  can 
believe  it  possible  for  Greeks  and  barbarians,  in  Asia, 
Europe,  Libya,  to  agree  in  one  code  of  religious  laws 
must  be  utterly  void  of  sense."^  The  world's  sages  had 
never  conceived  of  the  possibility  of  a  universal  faith; 
it  was  above  the  philosopher's  dream,  and  beyond  the 
ambition  of  the  conqueror's  most  extravagant  imagina- 
tions. 

Now,  these  vast  conceptions  of  Jesus — one  religion 


*  Matt.  10: 29.    *  Geikle,  Life  and  Works  of  Jesus,  p.  10. 


The  Christ  111 

for  all  peoples,  the  annihilation  of  all  caste,  a  universal 
kingdom  of  righteousness  and  peace  established  on  the 
law  of  love — cannot  be  reconciled  on  the  principle  of 
his  environment.  He  was  a  Jew,  and  the  law  of  environ- 
ment would  be  that  he  would  think  as  a  Jew  and  act  as 
a  Jew,  but  he  did  not.  The  first,  last,  and  all-the-time 
thought  of  the  Jew  was,  the  superiority  conferred  on 
him  and  his  people  by  the  religion  of  Moses  and  their 
descent  from  Abraham.  He  never  tired  of  saying,  "We 
have  Abraham  to  our  father."^  The  thought  of  the 
Hebrew  mind  of  the  age  is  expressed  in  the  second  Book 
of  Esdras,  thus :  "On  our  account  thou  hast  created  the 
world.  Other  nations  sprung  from  Adam,  thou  hast 
said,  are  nothing,  and  are  like  spittle,  and  thou  hast 
likened  their  multitude  to  the  droppings  from  a  cask. 
But  we  are  thy  people,  whom  thou  hast  called  thy  first- 
born, thine  only  begotten,  thy  well-beloved."^  Also,  in 
the  Book  of  Sifri  we  read,  "A  single  Israelite  is  of  more 
worth  in  the  sight  of  God  than  all  the  nations  of  the 
world ;  every  Israelite  is  of  more  value  before  him  than  ^^^ 
all  the  nations  who  have  been  or  will  be."  But  Jesus,  the 
in  direct  opposition,  declared  the  universal  brotherhood  ^^°1^*/m  « 
of  man  and  the  Fatherhood  of  God.  Of  this  the  world  and  tue 
had  never  before  heard,  and  was  in  no  sense  prepared  ^^  ^qq^^""^ 
to  receive  it.  It  was  not  only  an  offense  to  the  Hebrew, 
but  to  the  Greek  and  the  barbarian  as  well.  While  the 
world  about  him  was  a  bundle  of  selfishness,  the  unique 
charm  of  his  character  was  a  life  of  absolute  imselfish- 
ness.  This  life  of  self-denial  he  incorporated  into  his 
religion,  and  made  it  the  test  of  all  healthy  religious 

»Matt.S:9.    »(6:65>. 


112 


Apologetics 


How 

Account 
for  the 
Character 
of  Jesus. 


life.  By  this  supreme  standard  of  religion  lie  rebuked 
the  asceticism  of  John  in  the  solitudes  of  the  wilderness 
and  the  religious  austerities  of  the  hermit  in  his  cell. 
The  church  and  the  world  alike  had  fenced  off,  as  some- 
thing distinct  from  common  duties  of  life,  the  domain 
of  religion,  but  he  pulled  down  the  high  wall  and  sancti- 
fied the  whole  sweep  of  existence.  He  carried  religion 
into  the  haunts  and  homes  of  both  public  and  private 
life,  and  declared  it  to  be  "more  blessed  to  give  than  to 
receive."  Active  benevolence,  labors  to  feed  the  hun- 
gry and  clothe  the  naked,  the  recognition  of  every  man 
as  brother,  sharing  alike  their  joys  and  sorrows,  dignify- 
ing every  sphere  of  human  activity,  no  difference  how 
humble,  how  low,  were  his  to  do  and  teach,  all  subordi- 
nated* by  a  single  aim,  to  the  Father's  glory.  Now,  how 
can  these  views — exalted  views  and  vast  conceptions  of 
Christ — be  reconciled  with  his  humble  station  in  life, 
his  general  environment?  He  was  the  reputed  son  of 
a  carpenter,  of  humble  education  as  well  as  birth, 
without  means,  without  influence,  only  a  carpenter. 
Judging  from  his  environment,  his  knowledge  of  the 
world  could  not  have  been  so  very  extensive ;  his  experi- 
ence had  not  been  such  as  to  have  given  him  vast  con- 
ceptions of  a  world  empire,  much  less  the  idea  of  a  spir- 
itual, universal  kingdom  and  the  means  to  employ  for 
its  establishment.  All  his  life  training  and  the  circum- 
stances which  ever  surrounded  him  were  just  the  oppo- 
site of  this.  Had  he  been  a  trained  soldier  under  Ro- 
man discipline,  and  had  he  taken  part  as  such  in  Rome's 
conquest  of  the  world,  such  circumstances  might  have 
excited  his  ambition  and  broadened  his  views;  but,  I 


The  Christ 


113 


tell  you,  the  carpenter  shop  is  not  a  place  to  create  a 
conception  of  world  empire,  nor  a  life  training  among 
a  class  of  pessimistic  or  religiously  intolerant  Jews  cal- 
culated to  inspire  a  thought  of  the  universal  brother- 
hood of  man;  neither  did  living  under  Eoman  domina- 
tion tend  to  infuse  into  the  heart  the  spirit,  "Love  your 
enemies."  But  under  circumstances  the  most  adverse 
to  forming  a  character  such  as  Jesus  possessed,  he  lived 
and  was  trained.  How  can  we  account  for  this  enigma, 
the  exception  in  human  history  ? 

3.     What  always  strikes  me  most  in  the  life  and 
teachings  of  Jesus  is,  the  cool,  calm  confidence  he  had 
in  himself  and  the  ultimate  success  of  the  cause  which 
he  represented.    Says  Dr.  Channing,  "Another  striking  ^.^ig 
circumstance  in  Jesus  is  the  calm  confidence  with  which   Confidence 

of  Jfisus  In 

he  always  looked  forward  to  the  accomplishment  of  his  Himself 
designs."  He  fully  knew  the  strength  of  the  passions  and  in  hib 
and  powers  which  were  arrayed  against  him,  and  was 
perfectly  aware  that  his  life  was  to  be  shortened  by  vio- 
lence, yet  not  a  word  escaped  him  implying  a  doubt  of 
the  ultimate  triumph  of  his  religion.  One  of  the  beau- 
ties of  the  Gospels  and  one  of  the  proofs  of  their  gen- 
uineness is  found  in  our  Saviour's  indirect  and  obscure 
allusions  to  his  approaching  sufferings  and  to  the  glory 
which  was  to  follow — allusions  showing  us  the  work- 
ings of  a  mind  thoroughly  conscious  of  being  appointed 
to  accomplish  infinite  good  through  great  calamity. 
This  entire  and  patient  relinquishment  of  immediate 
success,  this  ever-present  persuasion  that  he  was  to  per- 
ish before  his  religion  would  advance,  and  this  calm,  un- 
shaken anticipation  of  distant  triumph,  are  remarkable 


114  Apologetics 

traits,  throwing  a  tender,  solemn  grandeur  over  our 
Lord,  and  wholly  inexplicable  by  human  principles  or 
by  the  circumstances  in  which  he  was  placed."^  'Tor 
I  am  come  down  from  heaven,  not  to  do  mine  own  wiJI, 
but  the  will  of  him  tliat  sent  me."^  He  claimed  to  be 
a  messenger  sent  from  the  other  side  and  to  know  all 
about  that  "unknown  country."  He  was  the  first  of  all 
earth's  children  to  set  up  such  a  claim.  Moses  and  the 
prophets,  among  the  Hebrews,  Confucius,  Buddha,  and 
Zoroaster  among  the  pagans,  made  no  such  high  pre- 
tensions. He  also  set  up  the  standard  of  infallibility 
for  himself.  "Heaven  and  earth  shall  pass  away,  but 
my  words  shall  not  pass  away."^  In  this  he  was  unlike 
other  teachers.  He  seldom  used  argument,  but,  as  a 
rule,  stated  facts  and  usually  laid  bare  to  the  under- 
standing of  the  thoughtful  final  causes  or  results.  He 
who  goes  to  Jesus  for  instruction  will  be  disappointed  if 
he  expects  to  find  an  exhaustive  digest  on  art,  science, 
or  philosophy.  This  was  not  his  mission.  As  one  has 
said,  "His  sphere  in  religion,  the  character  of  God,  the 
principles  of  the  spiritual  life,  the  forgiveness  of  sins, 
the  discipline  of  the  soul,  the  life  to  come."  On  ail 
these  themes  he  has  said  the  last  word,  and  swept  clear 
the  mist-enshrouded  coast  of  ontology,  touched  the  mo!>t 
lofty  arch  of  truth,  and  made  plain  the  soul's  way  to 
God.  He  only  of  all  earth's  teachers  has  laid  down  the 
infallible  rule  on  which  man  can  think  rightly  on  re- 
ligion, a  future  life,  immortality,  and  how  to  come  to 
God.  The  Christ  never  even  hinted  that  his  gospel,  his 
teaching,  should  be  questioned  or  be  a  subject  of  argu- 

i^hanning'B  Works,  p.  228.    •John  6: 38.    •Matt.  24:35. 


The  Christ  115 

ment.  It  was  to  be  believed,  received,  and  obeyed  by 
all  who  would  be  blessed  by  it.  It  was  a  series  of  decla- 
mations set  in  the  most  forceful  and  winning  manner. 
"Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you.  He  that  believeth  on  me 
hath  everlasting  life."^  "If  any  man  willeth  to  do  his 
will,  he  shall  know  of  the  teaching,  whether  it  be  of 
God."2  Such  language  is  not  found  on  the  lips  of  any 
other  of  the  world's  great  teachers.  It  is  peculiar 
to  the  man  of  Calvary,  and,  coming  from  his  pure  lips, 
it  falls  on  the  human  ear  like  the  cadence  of  a  sweet 
song  at  the  close  of  a  bright  summer  day.  On  all  great 
questions  touching  religion,  God,  and  a  future  life,  the 
world's  sages  have  always  spoken  with  great  modesty 
and  caution,  aye,  often  with  doubt.  "Yes,  Plato,  thou 
reasonest  well,"  said  old  Cato.  But  even  with  Plato 
it  was  only  a  matter  of  opinion,  but  with  Jesus,  opinion 
has  developed  into  personal,  conscious  knowledge.  "I 
am  the  living  bread  which  came  down  out  of  heaven." 

Unlike  all  other  men,  the  Christ  made  no  mistakes. 
His  life  and  his  sayings  have  been  before  the  world  for 
almost  nineteen  centuries.  They  have  been  subjected 
to  the  scrutiny  and  criticism  alike  of  friend  and  foe, 
and  their  verdict  accords  with  the  verdict  of  Pilate,  "I 
find  no  fault  in  him."  He  always  said  the  right  thing 
at  the  right  time,  and  in  the  right  way,  and  to  the  best 
possible  advantage.  He  never  did  a  wrong  act;  it  was 
always  done  at  the  right  time,  and  in  the  right  way  to 
meet  the  conditions  which  prompted  the  action.  There 
is  no  evidence  that  he  ever  corrected  his  statement,  re- 
considered his  plan,  or  changed  his  acts.     He  was  the 

»John  6: 35,  51.    » John  7: 17.    'John  6: 47. 


116  Apologetics 

faultless  man  among  men,  a  marvel  in  the  world's  his- 
tory. He  stood  out  a  mighty  Pharos  in  the  great  sea 
of  humanity,  unequalled  and  unapproached  and  unap- 
proachable by  any  of  the  sons  of  men.  In  liim  the  race 
finds  the  perfect  man,  perfect  in  life,  perfect  in  knowl- 
edge, aye,  perfect  in  character — a  perfect  completion, 
and  utterly  unaccounted  for  by  the  natural  principles 
of  our  common  humanity.  Imperfection  is  one  of  th'3 
marked  features  of  the  world's  greatest  of  men.  Jesus 
is  the  only  exception  to  this.  All  men  have  not  been 
equally  defective.  Moses  had  fewer  defects  than  the 
wise  king  of  Israel,  and  he  illustrated  this  in  his  remark- 
ably eventful  life.  David  was  better  than  Saul,  Socrates 
than  Philip  of  Macedon,  and  Cicero  than  j^ero,  and 
the  lives  they  lived  are  the  illustrations  of  the  fact. 
While  the  world's  teachers,  as  a  rule,  in  point  of  theory 
were  good,  their  lives  never  measured  up  to  what  they 
taught.  This  same  sad  fact  is  only  too  true  at  the  pres- 
ent. In  tliis  respect,  history  has  repeated  itself  with 
every  generation  of  our  sorrow-smitten  race.  To  teach 
the  truth  is  one  thing,  but  to  illustrate  what  the  teacher 
has  taught  in  his  own  well-regulated  life  is  quite  a  dif- 
ferent thing. 

This  Jesus  did,  so  that  it  makes  him  a  marked  man, 
an  exception  to  all  men.  He  walked  through  the  world 
in  this  respect  a  moral  giant  among  men.  The  allure- 
ments of  society  and  the  temptations  of  demons  had  no 
effect  upon  him,  and,  like  a  Colossus,  he  stood  among 
men,  "the  holiest  among  the  mighty,  and  the  mightiest 
among  the  holy."  Spinoza  calls  him  "the  symbol  of 
divine  wisdom,"  Hegel,  "the  union  of  divine  and  hu- 


The  Christ  117 

man,"  and  Dr.  Channing  says,  "The  character  of  Jesus 
is  wholly  inexplicable  on  human  principles,"  and  the 
Word  of  God  calls  him  "King  of  kings  and  Lord  of 
lords."  Said  De  Wette,  the  most  learned  and  intel- 
lectual of  all  the  German  critics,  "This  only  I  know, 
that  there  is  salvation  in  no  other  name  than  in  the 
name  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  crucified,  and  that  nothing 
loftier  offers  itself  to  humanity  than  the  God  manhood 
realized  in  him,  and  the  kingdom  of  God  which  he 
founded — an  idea  and  problem  not  yet  rightly  under- 
stood and  incorporated  into  the  life,  even  of  those  who 
in  other  respects  rank  as  the  most  zealous  and  warm- 
est Christians."  At  his  teachings,  paganism  is  gradu- 
ally melting  away,  and  uncivilized  tribes  arc  becoming 
nations  under  Christian  governments.  By  his  magic 
touch  whatever  was  vital  in  ancient  Judaism  was  ex- 
panded from  the  mere  creed  of  a  tribe  into  a  religion 
for  the  whole  world.  He  opened  up  the  secrets  of  the 
Fatherhood  of  God  and  the  brotherhood  of  man,  and 
taught  the  world  to  use  and  appreciate  the  terms  "my 
Father"  and  "your  Father."  "From  first  to  last  Jesus 
is  the  same,  always  the  same,  majestic  and  simple,  in- 
finitely severe  and  infinitely  gentle.  Throughout  a  life 
passed  under  the  public  eye  he  never  gave  occasion  to 
find  fault.  The  prudence  of  his  conduct  compels  our 
admiration  by  its  union  of  force  and  gentleness.  Alike 
in  speech  and  action,  he  is  enlightened,  consistent,  and 
calm.  Sublimity  is  said  to  be  an  attribute  of  divinity. 
What  name,  then,  shall  we  give  him  in  whose  character 
were  united  every  element  of  the  sublime?"  "He  is  a 
mystery  indeed  to  our  intellectual  and  philosophical 


118  Apologetics 

comprehension,  but  a  mystery  made  manifest  as  the  most 
glorious  fact  in  history — the  blessed  mystery  of  godli- 
ness, the  inexhaustible  theme  of  meditation  and  praise 
for  all  generations/'  He  is  the  self-revelation  of  God 
to  man. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

Prophecy — A  Proof  of  Christianity. 

The  evidences  of  Christianity  are,  in  their  nature 
and  tendencies,  accumulative.  It  is  the  culmination  of 
their  accumulated  evidences,  from  miracles,  from  ad- 
mitted facts  in  the  Christian  system,  from  the  self- 
revelation  of  God  in  Jesus  Chrisi,  from  the  marvelous 
propagation  of  primitive  Christianity,  and  from  proph- 
ecy, and  from  other  sources  which  bring  the  honest 
doubters  about  to  a  conviction  of  truth  in  revealed  re- 
ligion. Prophecy  is  pre-history,  and  relates  wholly  to 
future  events.  It  is  the  historian  recording  the  fate 
of  a  city  or  of  a  nation  or  of  an  individual,  accurately,  prophecy 
before  that  fate  is  accomplished.  To  do  this  requires  Defined, 
a  miracle  of  knowledge,  knowledge  such  as  is  not  pos- 
sessed by  man  in  his  normal  condition,  and  comes  only 
from  God.  "For  no  prophecy  ever  came  by  the  will  of 
man:  but  men  spake  from  God,  being  moved  by  the 
Holy  Ghost."^  David  Hume  said,  "All  prophecies  are 
real  miracles,  and  as  such  only  can  be  admitted  as  proofs 
of  any  revelation."^  It  is  the  fulfillment  which  makes 
manifest  the  miracle  in  a  prophecy,  not  the  mere  pre- 
diction that  such  an  event  will  come  to  pass.  But  when 
the  event  comes  to  pass,  as  predicted,  then  God  shows 
his  hand  in  the  prophecy,  and  the  miracle  of  knowledge 

»1I.  Peter  1:  2L    •  Phil.  Essays. 

119 


120  Apologetics 

becomes  the  highest  proof  of  a  revelation.  By  way  of 
illustration:  If  G-eorge  Washington,  in  the  last  year 
of  his  life,  had  predicted  that  in  1898  an  American  war- 
ship would  be  blown  up  in  Havana  Harbor,  and  that 
Proof  of  ^^6  same  year  a  war  would  ensue  between  the  United 
Prophecy.  States  and  Spain,  and  that  one  Admiral  Dewey  would 
have  command  of  the  American  warships  in  the  Pacific, 
and  that  he  would  go  to  the  Philippine  Islands,  under 
orders,  and  there,  in  Manila  Harbor,  meet  the  Span- 
ish fleet  and  destroy  or  capture  every  vessel;  and  if  he 
had  claimed  that  God  had  thus  revealed  to  him  the  facts 
stated,  and  told  him  to  write  them  in  a  book,  the  simple 
prediction  in  itself  would  contain  no  evidence  that  God 
had  spoken  to  George  Washington,  but  the  facts  which 
have  transpired  in  1898  between  the  United  States  and 
Spain,  being  a  literal  fulfillment  of  the  supposed  pre- 
diction, would  be  a  proof  that  his  claim  to  inspiration 
is  vindicated  and  that  God  had  thus  spoken  to  him. 
Now,  on  this  wise  are  the  predictions,  both  in  the  Old 
and  the  New  Testament.  The  men  who  wrote  the  pre- 
dictions contained  in  the  Scriptures  claimed  that  God 
had  commanded  them  to  write,  and  thus  they  wrote  and 
pushed  their  predictions  into  history ;  and,  in  a  manner, 
too,  that  they  have  been  before  the  world  and  have  been 
read  and  studied  from  eighteen  to  three  thousand  years. 
No  reasonable  man  will  claim  that  ample  time  and  op- 
portunity have  not  been  given  to  men  of  the  world  to 
investigate  and  test  by  legitimate  methods  the  truth  or 
the  falsity  of  the  claims  set  up  by  the  prophets.  There 
is  little  uniformity  in  the  manner  in  which  they  claim  to 
have  been  impressed  or  commissioned  to  report  their 


Prophecy — A  Proof  of  Christianity 


121 


heiavenly  messages.  Seldom  are  any  two  of  them  inspired 
in  the  same  way,  and  seldom,  also,  any  one  of  them  twice 
in  the  same  or  in  like  former  manner.  Sometimes  in  a 
vision  or  dream  the  revelation  was  given ;  sometimes  the 
voice  of  God  or  the  voice  of  his  angel  was  heard  by  the 
prophet.  At  other  times  God  took  complete  possession 
of  the  prophet  and  used  him  as  his  mouthpiece.  The 
books  of  prophecy  in  the  Old  Testament  closed  three 
hundred  and  ninety-seven  years  before  Christ,  and  in 
the  New  Testament  more  than  eighteen  hundred  years 
ago.  Standing  on  the  vantage  ground  of  the  opening 
year  of  the  twentieth  century,  it  is  the  privilege  of  the 
investigator  to  scan  in  the  light  of  history  the  centuries 
which  lie  between  him  and  the  age  in  which  the  prophets 
lived  and  wrote  their  predictions,  and  compare  the  his- 
tory of  these  centuries  with  the  prophecies  and  see  if 
there  is,  or  has  been  a  veritable  fulfillment  of  them. 
The  vast  amount  of  historic  evidence  acquired,  within 
the  past  few  years,  from  the  monuments  and  the  libraries 
exhumed  from  buried  cities,  right  on  the  sites  where  the 
prophets  lived  and  wrote  their  messages,  settles  beyond 
a  reasonable  doubt,  not  only  the  dates  of  the  prophecies, 
but  also  the  peoples  and  the  cities  against  which  the  pre- 
dictions were  uttered. 

1.  The  flash-lights  from  the  excavations  now  going 
on  in  the  valleys  of  the  Euphrates  and  the  Tigris  make 
old  Nineveh  and  Babylon  new  old  cities.  From  these 
valleys  Abraham,  the  founder  of  the  Hebrew  family- 
nation,  was  called,  and  from  their  peoples  and  cities 
God  has  never  withdrawn  his  scourge  of  "perpetual  deso- 
lation."   Against  Nineveh  two  of  his  prophets,  Nahum 


FiQfiUinent 

of  Prophecy 

Regarding 

Nineveh 

and 

Babylon. 


122  Apologetics 

and  Zephaniah,  uttered  their  predictions,  and  Jonah 
tells  us  of  its  vast  population  and  their  great  wicked- 
ness. Said  Zephaniah,  six  hundred  and  thirty  or  more 
years  before  Christ,  "And  he  will  stretch  out  his  hand 
against  the  north,  and  destroy  Assyria;  and  will 
make  Nineveh  a  desolation,  and  dry  like  the  wilder- 
ness."^ Said  Nahum,  "But  Nineveh  hath  been  from  of 
old  like  a  pool  of  water."  "Nineveh  is  laid  waste ;  who 
will  bemoan  her?"^  These  prophets  wrote  when  Nin- 
eveh, the  capital  of  the  Assyrian  kingdom  and  empire, 
was  in  her  full  splendor.  Her  destruction  came  606 
B.  C,  and  so  complete  was  it  that  Nineveh  dropped  out 
of  history  for  more  than  two  thousand  years.  The  site, 
even,  of  this  great  city  was  lost.  The  later  Greek  and 
Eoman  historians  knew  nothing  of  Nineveh.  Xenophon 
marched  his  "10,000"  over  it  400  B.  C.  Alexander  the 
Great  made  it  the  camping-ground  for  his  mighty  host, 
but  was  ignorant  that  Nineveh  slept  beneath.  The  critic 
began  to  inquire.  Where  is  the  site  of  lost  Nineveh  ?  and 
the  skeptic  and  doubter  responded,  "Nowhere;  Nineveh 
is  a  mytli."  To-day,  the  lost  and  almost  forgotten  city 
is  exhumed.  The  palace  of  the  great  Sargon,  probably 
the  most  magnificent  ever  erected  by  the  hand  of  man, 
covering  more  than  twenty-five  acres,  has  been  exca- 
vated. The  great  library  of  Asurbanipal,  who  was  the 
last  of  the  great  kings  of  Assyria,  and  a  contemporary 
with  Manasseh  and  Josiah  of  Judah,  with  its  30,000 
tablets  and  cylinders,  is  now  before  the  world,  confirm- 
ing biblical  history  and  throwing  light  upon  that  remote 
age.      Thus  Babylon,  the  capital  city  of  the  country 

'Zeph.  2:  la    •Nah.2: 8;  2: 7. 


Prophecy — A  Proof  of  Christianity  123 

called  Shinar  in  Genesis,  but  later  Chaldea,  stood  on 
the  banks  of  the  Euphrates,  about  250  miles  distant 
from  Nineveh,  and  was  the  center  of  a  vast  empire.  On 
account  of  her  great  wickedness,  she,  together  with  her 
kings,  became  the  subject  of  many  prophecies.  Isaiah, 
713  B.  C,  predicted  her  destruction  and  perpetual  deso- 
lation. "And  Babylon,  the  glory  of  kingdoms,  the 
beauty  of  the  Chaldeans'  pride,  shall  be  as  when 
God  overthrew  Sodom  and  Gomorrah.  It  shall  never 
be  inhabited,  neither  shall  it  be  dwelt  in  from  genera- 
tion to  generation:  neither  shall  the  Arabian  pitch 
tent  there;  neither  shall  shepherds  make  their  flocks 
to  lie  down  there.  But  wild  beasts  of  the  desert  shall 
lie  there,"  etc.^  Also,  "I  will  also  make  it  a  possession 
for  the  porcupine,  and  pools  of  water :  and  I  will  sweep 
it  with  the  besom  of  destruction,  saith  the  Lord  of 
hosts."  The  glory  of  this  once  magnificent  city,  like 
that  of  her  sister,  Nineveh,  has  passed  away  forever. 
Her  decline  commenced  with  the  conquest  of  Cyrus. 
After  the  death  of  Alexander  the  Great,  the  seat  of 
empire  was  transferred  to  Antioch  by  the  Seleucidse, 
which  gave  the  death  blow  to  the  prosperity  of  Babylon, 
and  her  perpetual  desolation  came.  For  ages  the  sur- 
rounding tribes  preyed  upon  her  walls,  her  temples,  and 
her  palaces,  until  the  "beauty  of  the  Chaldeans'  excel- 
lency" has,  as  Jeremiah  said,  literally  and  most  em- 
phatically "become  heaps.'"  Her  walls  have  been 
"thrown  down,"  "jackals"  hide  in  her  palaces,  her  land 
is  "a  wilderness,"  "owls  dwell  there."  The  natives  be- 
lieve that  some  infernal  genii  have  their  abode  there, 

Usa.  13: 19-22;  14:  23.    »  Jer.  51:  37,  44;  also,  50: 15. 


124 


Apologetics 


PropHecles 
Regaxdlng 
Egypt 
Fuimied. 


and  for  the  wealth  of  the  Indies  the  "Arab  would  not 
pitch  his  tent,"  neither  the  shepherd  fold  his  flock 
where  once  mighty  Babylon  stood.  For  generations  it 
has  been  uninhabited.  He  who  now  walks  through  the 
land  knows  that  the  predictions  of  tlie  prophet  respect- 
ing Nineveh  and  Babylon  are  literally  fuihlled.  The 
light  thrown  on  this  subject  by  the  recent  discoveries 
made  on  the  sites  of  these  two  great  cities,  not  only 
shows  how  minutely  the  prophecy  respecting  them  has 
been,  and  is  now  being  fulfilled,  but  also  how  faith- 
ful the  sacred  historian  was  in  stating  the  facts  respect- 
ing these  cities,  their  greatness,  the  pride  of  their  kings, 
and  the  wickedness  of  their  peoples. 

2.  Egypt  for  ages  was  a  center  of  the  world's  civ- 
ilization and  commerce.  This  fact  is  just,  as  it  were, 
beginning  to  dawn  upon  the  modern  world.  The  state- 
ments made  and  the  facts  implied  by  the  author  of  the 
Pentateuch,  as  well  as  by  some  of  the  prophets,  were 
laughed  out  of  court  by  many  modern  critics;  but  since 
the  heieroglyphics  on  Egypt's  monuments  and  the  Tel- 
el-Amarna  tablets  have  spoken,  a  new  era  in  historical 
investigation  has  dawned,  and  Moses  and  the  prophets 
have  become  a  new  book.  This  wonder-land,  Egypt, 
became  interlinked  with  Hebrew  history,  and  was  u 
marked  land  by  her  prophets.  Ezekiel  directs  his 
anathemas  against  this  land  of  the  Pharaohs  and  her 
cities  in  a  most  significant  manner.  Said  he :  "I  will 
make  the  land  of  Egypt  a  desolation  in  the  midst  of  the 
countries  that  are  desolate,  .  .  .  and  I  will  scatter 
the  Egyptians  among  the  nations,  and  will  disperse  them 
through  the  countries.     ...    It  shall  be  the  basest 


JProphecy—A  Proof  of  Christianity  125 

of  the  kingdoms ;  neither  shall  it  any  more  lift  itself  up 
above  the  nations ;  and  I  will  diminish  them,  that  they 
shall  no  more  rule  over  the  nations."  Again,  ''Thus 
saith  the  Lord  God:  I  will  also  destroy  the  idols,  and 
I  will  cause  the  images  to  cease  from  Noph;  and  there 
shall  be  no  more  a  prince  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt.  And 
1  will  put  fear  in  the  land  of  Egypt.  And  I  will  make 
Pathros  desolate,  and  I  will  set  a  fire  in  Zoan,  and  I 
will  execute  judgments  in  N  o.  And  I  will  pour  my  fury 
upon  Sin,  the  strong  hold  of  Egypt;  and  I  will  cut  ofE 
the  multitude  of  No.  And  I  will  set  a  fire  in  Egypt; 
Sin  shall  be  in  great  anguish,  and  No  shall  be  broken 
up:  and  Noph  shall  have  adversaries  in  the  day-time. 
The  young  men  of  Aven  and  of  Pi-beseth  shall  fall  by 
the  sword:  and  these  cities  shall  go  into  captivity.  At 
Tehaphnehes  also  the  day  shall  withdraw  itself,  when. 
I  shall  break  there  the  yokes  of  Egypt,  and  the  pride  of 
her  power  shall  cease  in  her :  as  for  her,  a  cloud  shall 
cover  her,  and  her  daughters  shall  go  into  captivity. 
Thus  will  I  execute  judgments  in  Egypt :  and  they  shall 
know  that  I  am  the  Lord."^  These  prophecies  were  writ- 
ten when  Egypt's  political  sky  was  clear  and  her  na- 
tional prosperity  was  promising.  Her  valleys  never 
were  more  fertile,  nor  her  citizens  better  clothed  and 
fed.  But  the  eye  of  the  Babylonian  from  across  the 
seas  was  jealous  of  that  prosperity,  and  with  an  over- 
whelming army  came  Chaldea's  greatest  monarch  and 
broke  into  smithers  the  kingdom  of  the  Pharaohs  and 
carried  her  peoples  into  captivity,  and  "scattered  them 
among  the  countries."    Cambyses  performed  a  like  feat, 

»Ezete. 29:  12-15;  30:  13-19. 


126 


Apologetics 


Propliecles 
Regarding 
Tyre 
FulfflUed. 


dashing  her  cities,  temples,  and  deities  to  the  ground. 
Alexander  the  Great  next  inflicted  a  crushing  blow  upon 
Egypt,  and  brushed  away  her  ancient  civilization  and 
introduced  that  of  the  Greek.  So  complete  has  been 
her  ruin  that  if  you  eliminate  about  sixty  years  from 
the  conquest  of  Nebuchadnezzar,  not  one  native  prince 
has  sat  upon  the  throne  of  Egypt.  The  cities  named 
by  the  prophet  are  a  complete  and  a  perpetual  desola- 
tion. I  have  walked  amid  the  ruins  of  On  and  Karnak 
(Thebes),  and  looked  upon  the  pyramids  and  sphinxes 
of  Noph  (Memphis),  and  know  that  the  predictions  of 
the  prophet  respecting  them  are  now  fulfilled.  But  why 
this  desolation?  The  valley  of  the  Nile  has  always 
been  equally  fertile,  and  never  more  so  than  at  the  pres- 
ent, and  yet  her  most  sacred  cities  and  centers  of  popu- 
lation have  faded  to  decay,  and  Egypt  is  ruled  by  for- 
eign lords.  For  more  than  twenty-three  hundred  years 
there  has  been  "no  more  a  prince  out  of  the  land  of 
Egypt." 

3.  Tyre  was  a  great  Phoenician  city,  which  stood  on 
an  island  in  the  Mediterranean  Sea  adjacent  to  the 
coast  line  of  Phoenicia.  In  her  glory,  and  in  the  days 
of  Ezekiel,  she  was  the  pride  and  mistress  of  the  seas. 
Of  her  the  prophet  predicted:  "Thus  saith  the  Lord 
God:  Behold,  I  am  against  thee,  0  Tyre,  and  will 
cause  many  nations  to  come  up  against  thee,  as  the  sea 
causeth  his  waves  to  come  up.  And  they  shall  destroy 
the  walls  of  Tyre,  and  break  down  her  towers:  I  will 
also  scrape  her  dust  from  her,  and  make  her  a  bare 
rock.  She  shall  be  a  place  for  the  spreading  of  nets  in 
the  midst  of  the  sea ;  for  I  have  spoken  it,  saith  the  Lord 


Prophecy — A  Proof  of  Christianity  127 

God.  .  .  ,  And  I  will  make  thee  a  bare  rock: 
thou  shalt  be  a  placa  for  the  spreading  of  nets;  thou 
shalt  be  built  no  more ;  for  I  tho  Lord  have  spoken  it."^ 
After  a  sie£;3  of  t\7elvj  cr  thirteen  years,  the  inhabitants 
in  part  having  passed  cat  over  the  sea  to  Carthage  and 
elsewhere,  the  city  fell  into  the  hands  of  Nebuchad- 
nezzar, 573  B.  C.  This  scourge  marked  the  beginning 
of  the  decline  of  Tyre,  and  steadily  her  glory  faded, 
until  for  ages  she  has  been,  and  now  is  a  place  where 
the  fishermen  "spread  their  nets."  On  the  19th  of 
February,  1900, 1  passed  the  little  island.  Only  a  hum- 
ble, insignificant  town  now  occupies  the  site  where  once 
proud  Tyre  stood. 

4.  The  history  of  the  Hebrew  race  for  the  past  nine- 
teen centuries  is  a  standing  proof  and  literal  fulfill- 
ment of  the  prediction  of  Moses  respecting  that  people. 
He  told  them  of  their  coming  rebellion  against  the 
God  of  their  fathers,  and  then  threatened  them  with 
the  judgment  that  would  ensue :    "The  Lord  shall  cause  The  History 

thee  to  be  smitten  before  thine  enemies:     .     .     .     and  of  the  Jews 

a  Fulfill- 
thou  shalt  be  tossed  to  and  fro  amon^-  all  the  kingdoms  ment  of 

of  the  earth."    "The  Lord  shall  bring  a  nation  against  Prophecy. 

thee  from  afar,  from  the  end  of  llie  earth,  as  the  eagle 

flieth ;  a  nation  whc^e  tongue  thou  shalt  not  understand ; 

a   nation   of   fierce   countenance,"   etc.      The   Eomans  * 

were  their  conquerors,  and  are  here  described.     Again, 

"The  Lord  shall  scatter  thee  among  all  peoples,  from  the 

one  end  of  the  earth  even  unto  the  other  end  of  the  earth. 

.     .     .     And  among  these  nations     .     .     .     shall  be  no 

rest  for  the  sole  of  thy  foot:  but  the  Lord  shall  give 

»Ezek.  26:  3-5, 14. 


128  Apologetics 

thee  there  a  trembling  heart,  and  failing  of  e3^es,  and 
pining  of  soul :  and  thy  life  shall  hang  in  doubt  before 
thee ;  and  thou  shalt  fear  night  and  day,  and  shalt  have 
none  assurance  of  they  life/'^  This  whole  chapter  is  a 
marvel  of  prophecy  respecting  the  Jew.  With  what 
definiteness  the  sage  of  Israel  marks  the  future  condi- 
tion of  his  people !  "And  thou  shalt  become  an  aston- 
ishment, a  proverb,  and  a  by-word  among  all  the  peoples 
whither  the  Lord  shall  lead  thee  away."-  Israel,  for 
the  past  two  thousand  years,  has  been  scattered  over  the 
earth.  Among  the  nations  she  has  had,  and  now  has 
*'no  re::t  for  the  sole  of  her  foot."  In  every  country  of 
the  world  the  Jew  is  now  found  and  ostracized  "because 
he  is  a  Jew."  Among  the  peoples  of  the  earth  to-day 
he  is  an  astonishment,  a  proverb,  and  a  by-word.  He 
has  been  driven  by  the  edicts  of  kings,  at  some  time  in 
history,  from  every  country  on  the  eastern  continent, 
and  is  now  a  subject  of  unjust  criticism  and  ostracism 
in  every  country  of  the  world.  For  some  reason  he  is 
the  hated  race.  Even  his  features  distinguidi  him 
among  the  other  races  of  men,  and,  iiotwithstandinr;  he 
may  change  his  name,  as  he  has  often  done,  to  g^ !;  i  id  of 
the  race  odium,  yet  his  pecall..:*  type  of  features  "find 
him  out."  The  prophet  put  it  well  when  he  said,  "And 
among  these  nations  shalt  thou  find  no  ease,  and  there 
shall  be  no  rest  for  the  sole  of  thy  foot."  He  has  been 
banished  and  recalled  and  again  banished.  At  the  close 
of  the  war  by  Titus,  they  were  i  )lvl  and  carried  into 
Egypt  by  ships  by  the  tens  of  thousands,  so  that  the  slave 
markets  were  glutted  and  "no  man  would  buy  them." 

»Deut.  28:  25,  49,  64.    » Deut.  28:  87. 


Prophecy — A  Proof  of  Christianity  12& 

They  were  banished  from  England  by  Edward  I.  They 
were  also  banished  from  France  by  Charles  II.;  from 
Prague  by  the  queen  of  Bohemia ;  from  Spain  by  Ferdi- 
nand and  Isabella ;  as  many  as  800,000  Jews  were  said  to 
have  been  banished.  They  purchased  refuge  in  Portugal 
from  John  II.,  and  were  again  banished  by  Emanuel. 
In  our  own  day,  they  have  been  banished  from  Poland 
and  from  Russia,  and  on  the  books  of  the  latter  the 
decree  stands,  and  is  in  full  force.  When  these  ban- 
ishments ensued  in  the  different  countries,  the  property 
of  the  banished,  as  a  rule,  was  confiscated  in  the  interest 
of  the  "crown,''  and  the  poor  Jew  was  sent  out  a  penni- 
less wanderer  in  a  strange  land.^  But,  notwithstanding 
these  peoples  have  been  scattered  among  the  nations 
and  ruled  by  them,  as  did  Henry  III.,  who  "always 
polled  the  Jews  at  every  low  ebb  of  his  fortunes,"  yet 
they  have  not  been  consumed  "utterly,"  but  exist  now  as 
a  distinct  people,  and  prosper,  too,  among  all  the  nations 
of  the  earth,  for  said  Jehovah,  "And  yet  for  all  that, 
when  they  be  in  the  land  of  their  enemies,  I  will  not 
reject  them,  neither  will  I  abhor  them  to  destroy  them 
utterly,  and  to  break  my  covenant  with  them :  for  I  am 
the  Lord  their  God."^  Israel's  lamp  has  never  gone 
out  amid  "so  many  wars,  battles,  and  sieges,  after  so 
many  fires,  famines,  and  pestilences,  after  so  many  re- 
bellions, massacres,  and  persecutions,  after  so  many 
years  of  captivity,  slavery,  and  misery,"  for  Jacob  is 
yet  among  the  nations,  an  "astonishment,  a  proverb, 
and  a  byword,"  the  same  unsolved  problem  of  the 
modern,  as  he  was  of  the  ancient  world,  with  more  than 

» See  Newton  on  the  Prophecies.    *  Lev.  26:44. 
9 


130  Apologetics 

40,000  of  his  sons  and  daughters  now  settled  in  and 
about  the  sacred  city  of  their  fathers.  Indeed,  so  marvel- 
ous is  this  prediction  of  Israel's  lawgiver  and  its  ful- 
fillments, that  even  to  the  very  letter  has  it  either  been, 
or  is  now  being,  fulfilled  in  the  strange  history  and 
varied  life  of  this  chosen  people.  There  is  nothing  like 
it  in  the  annals  of  any  other  peoples.  It  is  indeed  a 
fact  that  even  the  modern  writer  and  interpreter  of 
this  prophecy  too  often  represents,  or  rather  misrep- 
resents the  Jew  as  the  very  synonym  of  avarice,  usury, 
and  hard-heartedness,  and  assigns  that  as  a  reason  why 
he  is  an  "astonishment,  proverb,  and  a  byword  among 
the  nations."  But  be  this  as  it  may,  yet  by  the  his- 
torian, the  statesman,  the  artist,  and  the  theologian  he 
is  a  marked  man.  And,  indeed,  this  is  more  remark- 
able still  when  we  recognize  the  fact  that  the  great  na- 
tions among  whom  Israel  is  scattered  and  despised  go 
to  the  Jew  for  their  Bible,  and  take  one  of  the  sons  of 
this  "hated  race"  and  worship  him  as  King  of  kings 
and  Lord  of  lords,  and  hope  for  salvation  alone  through 
his  mediation, 
oftiie  5.     The  prophet  Amos  threatened  Ammon,   Moab, 

Peoples         Philistia,  and  Edom.    These  countries  were  adjacent  to 
Israel  a         Judea,  and  were  in  their  highest  prosperity  when  the 
Fulfillment    prophet  raised  his  voice  against  them,  and  at  the  same 
Prophecy.      ^™6  threatened  Israel  with  judgment.     The  complete 
ruin  of  ]\roab  and  Amon  was  foretold  by  Zephaniah, 
"Surely  Moab  shall  be  as  Sodom,  and  the  children  of 
Amon  as  Gomorrah,  a  possession  of  nettles,  and  salt- 
pits,  and  a  perpetual  desolation."^    Jeremiah,  Ezekiel, 

>Zeph.2:9. 


Prophecy — A  Proof  of  Christianity 


131 


Isaiah,  and  Obadiah  picture,  in  striking  language,  the 
utter  destruction  of  Edom.  "And  Edom  shall  become 
an  astonishment.  ...  As  in  the  overthrow  of 
Sodom  and  Gomorrah  and  the  neighbour  cities  thereof, 
saith  the  Lord,  no  man  shall  dwell  there,"  etc.^  No 
man  can  pass  over  these  countries  named  and  visit 
their  ruined  cities  and  not  be  impressed  with  the  ful- 
fillment of  these  predictions.  Where  are  the  Amorites, 
the  Edomites,  the  Canaanites,  and  the  Philistines? 
They  are  gone  forever.  The  Moabites,  too,  have  per- 
ished. Philistia  is  no  more.  Many  of  these  cities  were 
for  ages  commercial  centers.  Their  peoples  once  dic- 
tated peace  and  war  to  their  neighbors  at  will,  but  they 
have  forever  perished  from  among  the  nations,  and  their  Return  of 
once  proud  cities,  like  the  fabric  of  a  vision,  scarcely  *^®  ^^^^ 
have  left  a  wreck  behind  them. 

The  author  of  "The  Monuments  and  the  Old  Tes- 
tament"^ has  so  well  stated  God's  prophetic  promise  of 
his  people's  return  to  their  own  country  from  Babylon 
under  Cyrus  that  I  will  give  his  words  in  full:  "The 
significance  of  the  rise  of  Cyrus  is  vividly  portrayed  by 
the  prophetic  words  to  the  exiles  in  Babylon.  Words 
of  comfort  addressed  to  the  exiles  assure  them  (40 :  1, 
2)  that  their  punishment  will  soon  cease.  They  shall 
return  to  their  home-land,  inhabit  it,  and  rebuild  their 
cities  and  restore  the  waste  places  (44:  26).  This  shall 
be  accomplished  by  a  deliverer  who  is  already  on  his 
way  to  conquer.  'Who  hath  raised  up  one  from  the 
east,  whom  he  calleth  in  righteousness  to  his  foot?  he 
giveth  nations  before  him  and  maketh  him  rule  over 


Babylon  a 
FulfiUment 
of 
Prophecy. 


» Jer.  49:  17, 18;  Obed.  1;  Ezek.  25,  35.    «  P.  231. 


132  Apologetics 

kings;  he  giveth  them  as  the  dust  to  his  sword,  as  the 
driven  stubble  to  his  bow.  He  pursueth  them,  and 
passeth  on  safely;  even  by  a  way  that  he  had  not  gone 
with  his  feet.  Who  hath  wrought  and  done  it,  calling 
the  generations  from  the  beginning?  I,  Jehovah,  the 
first,  and  with  the  last,  I  am  he'  (Isa.  41 :  2-4).  Again, 
we  find :  'Thus  saith  Jehovah  to  his  anointed  [selected], 
Cyrus,  whose  right  hand  I  have  holden,  to  subdue  na- 
tions before  him,  and  I  will  loose  the  loins  of  kings; 
to  open  the  doors  before  him,  and  the  gates  shall  not 
be  shut.  .  .  .  For  Jacob  my  servant's  sake,  and 
Israel  my  chosen,  I  have  called  thee  by  thy  name :  I  have 
surnamed  thee  though  thou  hast  not  known  me.  I  am 
Jehovah,  and  there  is  none  else;  beside  me  there  is 
no  God:  I  will  gird  thee,  though  thou  hast  not  known 
me'  (45:1,  4,  5).  Cyrus  is  distinctly  designated  as 
the  agent  of  Jehovah  to  conquer  the  nations.  His  mis- 
sion was  a  providential  one,  and  in  no  sense  because  he 
was  a  worshiper  of  Jehovah,  for  the  sake  of  his  serv- 
ant Jacob. 

"To  deliver  the  Jews  it  was  necessary  that  the  great 
Babylon,  the  pride  of  her  kings,  the  yoke  of  her  sub- 
jects, should  fall".  Numerous  prophecies  from  Jere- 
miah down  had  pictured  her  doom.  But  the  conqueror 
is  not  at  hand.  'Come  down  and  sit  in  the  dust,  0  vir- 
gin daughter  of  Babylon;  sit  on  the  ground  without  a 
throne,  0  daughter  of  the  Chaldeans:  for  thou  shalt 
no  more  be  called  tender  and  delicate.  ...  Sit 
thou  silent,  and  get  thee  into  darkness,  0  daughter  of 
the  Chaldeans:  for  thou  shalt  no  more  be  called  The 
lady  of  kingdoms.'    'Thou  art  wearied  in  the  multitude 


Prophecy— A  Proof  of  Christianity  133 

of  thy  counsels :  let  now  the  astrologers,  the  stargazers, 
the  monthly  prognosticators,  stand  up,  and  save  thee 
from  the  things  that  shall  come  upon  thee.  Behold,  they 
shall  be  as  stubble ;  .  .  .  there  shall  be  none  to  save 
thee'  (47:  1,  5,  13,  15).  Nothing  that  they  can  muster 
shall  be  able  to  avert  the  certain  doom  of  the  wicked 
city.  On  the  eve  of  its  fall,  the  prophet  sees  some  of 
its  consequences.  'Bel  (Merodach)  boweth  down,  Nebo 
stoopeth;  their  idols  are  upon  the  beasts,  and  upon  the 
cattle :  the  things  that  ye  carried  about  are  made  a  load, 
a  burden  to  the  weary  beast.  They  stoop,  they  bow  down 
together;  they  could  not  deliver  the  burden,  but  them- 
selves are  gone  into  captivity*  (46:1,  2).  The  sub- 
stance of  these  and  other  prophecies  is,  that  Babylon 
must  be  humiliated,  her  proud  position  surrendered, 
and  even  her  idols  become  a  load  for  beasts,  and  not  a 
joy  to  their  own  worshipers.  This  last  statement  was 
fulfilled  only  in  the  sense  that  the  idols,  as  contrasted 
with  Jehovah's  power,  who  was  bringing  this  about, 
would  be  merely  a  burden  of  useless  material.  For  as 
Cyrus  himself  claimed,  it  was  under  the  auspices  of  the 
gods  that  he  marched  into  Babylon. 

"Having  already  given  (§§213,  214)  the  contempo- 
raneous records  of  the  fall  of  Babylon,  let  us  now  con- 
sider the  Jewish  return.  We  have  noted  (§315)  that 
Cyrus  inaugurated  a  policy  of  generosity  towards  his 
new  subjects,  that  he  endeavored  to  promote  in  every 
way  their  welfare.  As  a  wise  statesman,  a  shrewd  poli- 
tician, and  a  kind-hearted  ruler,  he  planned  methods 
by  which  he  could  better  the  condition  of  his  peoples. 
He  was  ready  to  espouse  their  cause  almost  to  the  en- 


134  Apologetics 

dangerment  of  his  throne.  He  revered  their  gods,  and 
where  they  had  been  neglected  or  desecrated,  he  was 
solicitous  for  their  restoration  to  their  former  venera- 
tion. Babylon  and  all  its  precincts  bore  evidences  of 
his  spirit  in  the  rebuilding  and  rededication  of  many 
slirines  and  temples.  His  own  appeals  to  the  gods,  and 
his  avowal  of  their  support,  reveal  Cyrus  as  a  poly- 
theist  of  a  pronounced  type.  It  was  not  a  matter  of 
monotheism,  of  a  possible  Zoroastrianism,  that  called 
his  attention  to  the  Jews,  but  other  reasons  of  no  mean 
proportions.  (1)  In  addition  to  the  restoration  and 
rehabilitation  of  captive  and  dethroned  deities,  he  says 
(Cyl.  32)  :  'AH  of  their  peoples  I  gathered  together 
and  restored  to  their  own  dwelling-places.'  This  def- 
initely stated  national  policy  gives  us  one  reason  for  the 
royal  proclamation  (Ezra  1 :  2-4)  issued  in  favor  of  the 
Jews.  (2)  It  is  altogether  probable  that  Cyrus  caught 
up  from  some  one  in  Babylonia  the  mission  which  had 
been  assigned  him  by  the  prophets.  'Cyrus  .  .  . 
is  my  shepherd,  and  shall  perform  all  my  pleasure :  even 
saying  of  Jerusalem,  She  shall  be  built ;  and  to  the  tem- 
ple, Thy  foundation  shall  be  laid'  (Isa.  4-i:  28).  (3) 
Palestine  had  been  a  kind  of  buffer-state  from  time 
immemorial  between  southwestern  Asia  and  Egypt.  To 
occupy  and  hold  that  strong  fortress,  Jerusalem  was 
the  first  step  toward  the  conquest  of  the  rival  power.  If 
Cyrus  could  conserve  that  advantage  by  aiding  the  Jews 
to  build  and  hold  it,  he  would  be  setting  up  one  battle- 
ment in  the  face  of  Egypt's  army.  For  one  of  his  next 
strokes  would  be  at  the  rival  power  on  the  Nile, 

"Cyrus  issued  his  proclamation  authorizing  the  re- 


Prophecy — A  Proof  of  Christianity  135 

turn  of  the  Jewish  exiles  in  the  first  year  of  his  sover- 
eignty as  king  of  Persia  (Ezra  1:  1),  538  B.  C.  It  is 
entirely  reasonable  to  conjecture  that,  in  accordance 
with  his  general  principles  of  government,  he  issued 
many  similar  documents.  The  copy  quoted  in  Ezra  1 ; 
2-4,  gives  a  few  only  of  the  specifications  originally  an- 
nounced. In  subsequent  references  to  the  document 
(3:2-7;  5:13-16;  6:1-5),  we  discover  that  elaborate 
provisions  were  made  for  the  building  of  the  temple, 
as  well  as  for  the  reinauguration  of  the  worship  of 
Jehovah.  Cyrus  had  not  overlooked  anything  that 
would  contribute  to  the  rapid  reclamation  of  this  west- 
ern waste.  The  proclamation  was  of  such  scope  as  to 
include  the  Jews  in  any  part  of  his  realm.  The  citizens 
of  the  empire  were  also  authorized,  if  they  chose,  to 
render  assistance  to  the  pilgrims  to  Palestine.  How 
generally  they  responded  to  the  royal  edict  is  stated  in 
Ezra  2.  This  pilgrimage  of  less  than  fifty  thousand  of 
the  faithful  to  the  land  of  their  fathers  relieved  the 
administration  of  Cyrus  from  the  presence,  in  any  part 
of  the  realm,  of  a  dissatisfied,  disturbing  Jewish  ele- 
ment. It  also  populated  and  built  up  a  section  of  his 
territory  which  had  been  overrun  and  devastated  by  suc- 
cessive armies  of  Assyria  and  Babylonia.  It  likewise 
gave  spirit  to  a  people  whose  national  life  had  been 
next  to  blotted  out  by  a  succession  of  well-deserved 
chastisements  and  captivities.  In  this  event  many  of 
the  brightest  and  most  hopeful  utterances  of  the  great  Testament 
prophets  found  their  fulfillment  and  their  fruition."  Prophecies 
6.  Marvelous  and  striking  as  are  the  prophecies  of  Fulfillment 
the  Old  Testament,  and  their  fulfillment,  nevertheless, 


136  Apologetics 

the  predictions  of  the  New  Testament  are  none  the  less 

60. 

Christ  Jesus  was  not  only  the  Saviour  of  the  world, 
but  also  a  great  prophet.  Of  him  said  Moses,  "The 
Lord  thy  God  will  raise  up  unto  thee  a  prophet  from 
the  midst  of  thee,  of  thy  brethren,  like  unto  me."^ 
From  the  opening  to  the  close  of  his  ministry,  his  dis- 
courses are  intersperseu  with  predictions ;  and  these  pre- 
dictions were  made  to  serve  as  a  proof  of  his  mission, 
when  the  things  predicted  would  come  to  pass.  "Now," 
said  the  Master,  "I  tell  you  before  it  come  to  pass,  that 
when  it  is  come  to  pass,  ye  may  believe  that  I  am  he."^ 
He  predicted  his  "suffering,"  his  "death,"  and  his 
"resurrection."  From  the  heights  of  Olivet  he  looked 
down  upon  the  doomed  city  and  contemplated  its  sad 
fate,  and  said  of  the  temple,  "The  days  will  come  in 
which  there  shall  not  be  left  here  one  stone  upon  another 
that  shall  not  be  thrown  dovoi."  "And  Jerusalem  shall 
be  trodden  down  .  .  .  until  the  times  of  the  Gen- 
tiles be  fulfilled."^  No  prophecy  more  terrific  is  found 
in  the  Word  of  God  than  those  recorded  in  Matthew, 
Mark,  and  Luke,  as  the  express  utterances  of  our  blessed 
Lord  against  the  Jews,  Jerusalem,  and  their  temple; 
and  the  person  who  is  informed  of  the  destruction  of 
the  sacred  city  and  the  nation  by  the  Romans  and  all  the 
subsequent  history  of  that  city  and  its  people  knows 
that  those  utterances  are  to  the  letter  fulfilled.  From 
the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  in  70  A.  D.,  to  the  pres- 
ent hour,  "Jerusalem  has  been  trodden  down  of  the  Gen- 


>Deut.  18:  15.    >Jobn  18:  19.    >Luke  21:  6;  21:  21;  19:  41;  Matt  24; 
Mark  13. 


Prophecy— A  Proof  of  Christianity  137 

tiles,  and  the  Jews  have  been  scattered  to  the  ends  of  the 
earth."  "Famines,"  "pestilences,"  "earthquakes,"  and 
"wars  and  rumors  of  wars"  were  the  current  history  of 
events.  In  the  temple  stood  the  statue  of  Caligula, 
"wliere  it  ought  not."  "Nation  rose  against  nation," 
"kingdom  against  kingdom,"  and  the  world  was  a  whirl- 
pool in  the  clash  of  arms  and  civil  commotion.  Noth- 
ing equal  to  it  can  be  found  in  the  annals  of  nations, 
in  point  of  famine,  cruelty,  and  death.  Mothers  ate 
their  own  children,  and  suicide  was  the  order  of  the 
day  to  escape  a  more  wretched  death  by  falling  into  the 
hands  of  the  conquering  foe.  "For,"  said  the  Son  of 
man,  "then  shall  be  great  tribulation,  such  as  hath 
not  been  from  the  beginning  of  the  world  until  now,  no, 
nor  ever  shall  be."  More  than  one  million  perished  in 
the  siege,  while  tens  of  thousands  were  sold  into  slavery- 
The  darkest  pictures  in  human  history  are  the  horrors 
of  this  siege,  described  by  Josephus,  who  was  an  eye- 
witness. Notwithstanding  Titus  implored  the  Jews  to 
save  their  city  by  submitting  to  his  conquering  host, 
yet  they  scorned  his  mercy  and  proffered  clemency- 
Contrary  to  the  orders  of  the  conqueror,  a  firebrand  was 
hurled  into  the  temple,  and  then,  by  command  of  Tituf?, 
the  city  was  razed  to  the  ground,  and  its  sad  history 
in  each  passing  hour  since  has  been  but  the  fulfillment 
of  the  Galilean's  prophecies. 

7.    But  the  predictions  of  Paul  respecting  the  "man 
of  sin."^  and  John,  in  Revelation,  of  the  "beast  with  ten  Regarding 

horns  and  seven  heads,"^  are  none  the  less  graphic  than  **^®  "Man 

°     ^  of  Sin" 

those  already  noted.     Doubtless,  Paul  and  John  being  Fuiaiie«L 

»II.  Thes.  2;  1-12.    "Rev.  13:  1-9. 


138  Apologetics 

familiar  with  the  books  of  Daniel,  drew  somewhat  from 
liis  vivid  imagery.  That  a  great  apostacy  has  taken 
place  in  the  church  of  Christ  is  a  matter  of  history. 
The  facts  and  the  history  of  the  Inquisition  under  the 
papacy  are  the  evidences  of  the  apostacy,  and  not  only 
point  to  the  ten-horned  beast,  but  to  the  "man  of  siu'*' 
as  well.  "The  foundations  of  popery,"  says  Newton, 
*'ivere  laid  indeed  in  the  apostles'  days,  but  the  super- 
structure was  raised  by  degrees,  and  several  ages  passed 
Lefore  the  building  was  completed,  and  the  'man  of 
sin'  was  revealed  in  fuU."^  It  is  a  fact  well  known  that 
when  the  Roman  empire  was  smitten,  shattered,  and 
broken  to  pieces,  the  empire  of  an  apostate  church,  the 
man  of  sin,  was  raised  on  its  ruins.  John  said,  "And 
they  that  dwell  on  the  earth  shall  wonder  .  .  .  when 
they  behold  the  beast,  how  that  he  was,  and  is  not,  and 
shall  become."  The  Tioman  empire,  while  pagan,  was  a 
pesccuting  power,  and  was  the  beast.  When  she  was  con- 
verted to  Christianity  she  ceased  her  persecutions,  and 
was  not  the  beast ;  but  when  she  became  papal  Rome  she 
again  became  the  beast,  as  her  history  clearly  shows. 
But  whether  you  take  Paul's  "man  of  sin"  or  John's 
ten-horned  beast,  place  them  alongside  the  history  of  tlie 
church's  apostacy,  and  you  have  a  living  picture  of  the 
papacy,  together  with  the  varied  shades  of  apostacy,  no 
difference  Avhen  and  where  it  developed  in  church  his- 
tory. But  the  "man  of  sin"  is  now  in  his  decline,  and 
will  ultimately  be  abolished  by  the  brightness  of  his 
coming  and  the  breath  of  his  mouth. 

•  Newton,  p.  406. 


Bible. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

The  Doctbines  and  Teachings  of  the  Scriptube3 
Accord  with  the  Facts  of  Human  History. 

1.  As  stated  elsewhere  in  this  treatise,  the  existence 
of  God  is  assumed,  and  the  task  of  proof  is  left  to  the 
theologian.  The  God  of  revelation,  set  forth  in  the  Old 
and  New  Testament,  is  a  God  unique  in  character,  in-  The 
finitely  wise,  just,  and  holy,  and  possessed  of  an  utter  ^^^^ 
abhorrence  of  evil,  and  "that  will  by  no  means  clear  the  God  of  the 
guilty,"  yet  "keeping  mercy  for  thousands,  forgiving 
iniquity  and  transgression  and  sin."^  Surely,  this  ex- 
alted God  of  the  Bible  is  in  strict  accord  with  man's 
highest  conception  of  the  divine  Being.  No  truly  well- 
informed  critic  has  found  fault  with  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures on  the  ground  of  the  character  of  its  God.  Jesus 
Christ,  the  God-man,  the  self -rev  elation  of  God,  in  the 
life  he  lived  on  earth,  set  forth  in  a  true  light  God  mani- 
fest, as  he  (God)  is  revealed  in  the  Bible.  In  him  men 
saw,  and  now  see  the  real  God  of  revelation.  Jesus 
appealed  to  Moses  and  the  prophets  as  witnesses  of  his 
Godhood,  and  put  his  life  before  the  world  as  the  evi- 
dence that  he,  in  all  respects,  measured  up  to  what  the 
Holy  Scriptures  recorded  respecting  the  infinite  and 
Holy  One. 

2.  The  Old  Testament  opens  its  pages  with  the  story 

•Ex.34:  7. 

139 


140  Apologetics 

of  creation  and  the  dark  history  of  the  primitive  fam- 
ilies of  mankind.     The  sad  Eden  story  is  briefly  but 
Tbe  Fall  of   pointedly  told.     The  bad  life  of  Cain  and  the  wicked 
*^*°*  career  of  primitive  man  is  pathetically  recorded  in  the 

solemn  and  warning  words,  "The  Lord  saw  that  the 
wickedness  of  man  was  great  in  the  earth,  and  that  every 
imagination  of  the  thoughts  of  his  heart  was  only  evil 
continually."  "And  the  Lord  said.  My  Spirit  shall 
not  strive  with  man  for  ever."^  In  this  straight,  clear, 
declarative  style  the  sacred  writers  continue  to  record 
their  inspired  communications  to  the  close  of  the  sacred 
record.  Not  one  word  of  palliation  is  found  in  the 
holy  Book  for  man's  bad  and  unworthy  life;  but  there 
is  a  constant  stream  of  utterances  setting  forth  his  de- 
praved and  wicked  life;  not  one  exception  is  recorded 
in  the  Book  of  the  whole  family  of  the  race,  but  the 
Christ.  "For  all  have  sinned,  and  fall  short  of  the 
glory  of  God."*  "The  heart  is  deceitful  above  all 
things,  and  it  is  desperately  wicked."'  "The  heart  of 
the  sons  of  men  is  fully  set  in  them  to  do  evil."*  "There 
is  none  righteous,  no,  not  one ;  there  is  none  that  under- 
Btandeth,  there  is  none  that  seeketh  after  God;  they 
have  all  turned  aside,  they  are  together  become  un- 
profitable; there  is  none  that  doeth  good,  no,  not  so 
much  as  one:  .  .  .  there  is  no  fear  of  God  before 
their  eyes."'*  "The  heart  of  the  sons  of  men  is  full  of 
evil,  and  madness  is  in  their  heart."*^  Thus  the  di- 
vine Word,  like  a  mighty,  rushing  river,  from  the  begin- 
ning to  the  close  of  its  pages,  pours  its  accusations 

»Gen.  6:  5;  6:  3.    «Rom.  3:  23,    »Jer.  17:  9.    *Eccl.  S:  IL 
•  Rom.  3:  10-12, 18.    •  Eccl.  9:  3. 


Doctrines  and  I'eachings  141 

against  man  as  a  race,  and  as  an  individual  as  well,  that 
he  is  "evil,  and  only  evil  continually." 

3.     Now,  are  these  charges  against  man,  as  set  forth 
in  the  Holy  Scriptures,  verified  in  the  history  of  the 
race  and  in  the  life  of  each  individual  of  the  race? 
The  dark  and  wicked  deeds  of  men  enter  into  and  make 
up  much  of  the  history  of  every  tribe,  race,  and  nation 
of  peoples.    To  this  statement  there  is  not  one  excep- 
tion.   It  is  just  as  true  of  the  civilized  as  it  is  of  the? 
uncivilized,  of  the  cultured  and  the  refined,  as  it  is 
of  the  savage.    The  history  of  war  and  blood,  as  it  has  .^^  History 
played  its  role  among  the  tribes,  nations,  and  families  of  Man 
of  men,  is  but  a  record  of  human  sin.    The  prisons,  the  ^^,^^1^19 
executioner's  block,  and  the  gallows  are  a  direct  wit-  Account 
ness  to  the  truth  of  the  charges  of  evil  against  him  re-  character 
corded  in  the  holy  Book.     This  is  a  fact  of  wliich  the 
world  is  not  ignorant.    The  sin  of  the  world  has  been 
the  theme  of  the  historian  and  the  sorrow  of  the  mor- 
alist in  all  the  ages.     Heathen  sages  wrote  upon  the 
nature  of  virtue  and  morality,  and  urged  the  obligation, 
to  practice  them ;  but  their  own  vices  demonstrated  that 
they  were  either  ignorant  of  their  true  nature  or  utterly 
unable  to  practice  what  they  taught.     Even  the  prac- 
tices of  Socrates  were  the  very  opposite  in  many  respects 
of  what  he  taught. 

The  pagan  world's  knowledge  of  sin  and  conscious- 
ness of  guilt  led  it  into  every  form  of  idolatry  and  de- 
basing orgies,  until  their  altars  smoked  with  the  hot 
blood  of  their  human  sacrifices.  On^an  occasion  when 
Carthage  was  to  be  besieged,  says  Diodorus,  "They  im- 
molated in  public  sacrifice  two  hundred  chosen  boys  of 


142  Apologetics 

their  principal  nobility."*  Justin  speaks  thus,  "They 
immolated  men  as  victims,  and  children,  whose  tender 
years  excited  the  pity  even  of  enemies."^  And  while  I 
write,  a  young  man  from  a  pagan  land  who  sits  by  my 
side,  says,  "Yes,  my  great-grandfather  was  buried  be- 
tween two  living  slaves,  who  should  accompany  him  in 
the  spirit  world."  When  Cortez  entered  the  great 
temple  in  the  city  of  Mexico  he  saw  the  walls  almost 
covered  with  human  hearts,  the  warm  blood  of  the  poor 
victims  dripping  therefrom,  a  sacrifice  to  their  gods. 
Turn  to  what  age  you  will,  or  to  what  quarter  of  the 
globe  you  please,  you  find  the  sin  of  man's  soul  is  the 
source  of  his  sorrow. 

"The  palaces  of  the  Caesars  raised  their  imperial  tur- 
rets to  the  skies,  crowned  with  matchless  magnificence; 
but  within  they  were  stained  with  every  species  of  im- 
purity. It  is  not  possible  to  read  the  accounts  given 
of  these  monarchs  who  held  the  scepter  of  the  world 
without  pity  and  indignation.  The  narration  of  Sue- 
tonius alternately  elevates  and  depresses,  informs  and 
pollutes  the  mind  of  the  reader;  and  if  one  moment  we 
follow  the  warrior  through  his  victories  and  participate 
in  his  triumph,  the  next  discovers  him  to  us  in  his  re- 
tirement, an  object  of  horror  and  disgust,  'committing 
all  manner  of  uncleanness  with  greediness.'  "^  You 
may  well  imagine  the  general  contagion  and  reign  of 
vice  among  the  masses  and  all  chisses  when  even  Horace 
sacrifices  his  genius  to  shameless  indecency,  and  the 
matchless  pen  of  Virgil  sullied  his  pages  with  wanton 
impurity. 

»Dlod.  Ub.  20.     »JuBt.  Hist.  Ub.  18:  ch.  6.     'Collyer's  lectures,  p.  40. 


Doctrines  and  Teachings  143 

4.  But  while  it  must  be  apparent  to  all  right-minded 
men  that,  under  the  reign  of  the  kingdom  of  God,  right-  conscious 
eousness  is  making  headway  against  sin,  yet  there  is  q^?.*?^* 
enough  of  vice  in  the  modern  world  to  verify  the  truths 
of  the  Bible  in  its  charge  against  the  race  as  being  sin- 
ners. The  daily  record  of  crime  under  the  world's  best 
civilization  and  among  its  most  enlightened  peoples  is 
indirectly  God's  daily  public  witness  of  the  truth  of  his 
Word  on  the  subject  of  sin.  Modem  wars,  mob  vio- 
lence, drunkenness,  fraud,  and  the  low  brothels  of  vice, 
tolerated  by  the  most  enlightened  Christian  nations,  to- 
gether with  secret  and  open  sins  of  the  masses,  both  in 
public  and  in  private  life  at  the  present  hour,  are  a 
wonderful  commentary  of  the  truth  of  these  Scriptures. 

The  Holy  Bible  recognizes  man  as  a  triune  being — a 
trichotomy  in  him — soul,  body,  and  spirit.  As  such, 
the  body  is  the  medium  between  the  soul  and  nature, 
the  spirit  its  medium  of  relation  to  the  supernatural. 
Sensuous  experience  comes  to  the  soul  through  this 
bodily  organism,  resulting  in  conscious,  definite  knowl- 
edge of  material  phenomena;  spiritual  experience  of 
spiritual^  universal,  and  eternal  phenomena-realities, 
comes  to  it  through  its  spirit  medium.  By  the  former 
it  has  sense  cognitions ;  by  the  latter,  reason  cognitions. 
The  one  gives  knowledge  of  the  creature;  the  other  of 
the  Creator.  By  the  one  comes  a  knowledge  of  the 
finite;  by  the  other,  of  the  infinite  God.  These  are  the 
soul's  mediums  of  knowledge  of  things,  whether  mate- 
rial or  spiritual,  human  or  divine.  Thus  constituted, 
he  is  capacitated  to  know  the  truth — divine  truth  as  well 
as  human.    In  this  light  he  is  recognized  in  the  Word 


14A  Apologetics 

of  God,  and  given  the  assurance  by  our  blessed  Lord 
that  "he  shall  know  of  the  teaching,  whether  it  be  of 
God."  On  this  conscious  knowledge  of  the  believer  Jesus 
was  willing  to  rest  his  case. 

There  is  nothing  wliich  a  man  knows  so  well  as  the 
life  he  lives.  He  knows  whether  he  lives  a  worthy  or  a 
double  life.  He  is  conscious  of  the  inward  impulses  of 
his  nature  and  of  his  liability  to  be  attracted  by,  and 
his  inclination  to  yield  to,  forbidden  wickedness.  He 
is  conscious,  also,  of  the  fact  that  too  often,  contrary  to 
reason,  to  what  he  believes  to  be  the  Word  of  God,  and 
to  the  voice  of  conscience,  knowingly  he  walks  deliber- 
ately into  sin  and  lives  a  conscious  wicked  life;  and, 
when  entrapped  by  justice  or  lashed  by  a  guilty  con- 
science, as  was  King  Saul,  in  the  bitterness  of  his  soul 
he  cries,  "0  wretched  man  that  I  am."  This  conscious- 
ness of  sin,  although  perhaps  not  always  equally  well 
understood,  has  kept  pace  with  the  ages,  and  is  as  broad 
as  the  family  of  mankind.  The  smoke  and  incense  from 
every  pagan  altar,  as  well  as  every  prayer  that  has  as- 
cended from  human  lips,  is  a  witness  to  the  soul's  con- 
scious knowledge  of  its  wickedness  and  an  appeal  to 
Heaven  for  pardon  of  man's  sins.  He  who  informs  him- 
self in  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  especially  in  its  doc- 
trines of  sin  in  relation  to  man,  then  lays  the  whole 
history  of  his  race,  aye,  his  own  personal  life  history, 
alongside  them,  cannot  but  be  impressed,  as  was  the 
woman  at  the  well,  in  her  conversation  with  her  Lord, 
namely,  that  he  has  found  a  book  that  reveals  to  him  all 
that  he  or  all  that  his  race  ever  did ;  and  a  conviction 
will  obtain  that  the  minxi  that  made  the  book  is  the 


Doctrines  and  Teachings  145 

mind  that  made  both  him  and  his  race.  There  is  not  a 
corner  or  a  crevice  in  the  human  soul  that  is  not  searched 
and  exposed  by  this  wonderful  Book;  and  he  who  thor- 
oughly studies  its  pages  is  conscious  that  his  sins  are 
not  concealed  from  the  mind  of  its  Author..  It  teaches 
not  only  that  man  is  a  sinner,  but  that  he  is  personally 
guilty  before  God  on  account  of  his  sins.  Here,  again, 
man's  consciousness  comes  in  as  a  witness  to  the  truth 
of  the  Word.  The  altars  and  the  sacrifices  of  the  ages 
are  but  the  evidence  and  the  acknowledgment  of  the 
soul's  wail  and  bitter  sorrow  for  conscious  guilt. 

5.  This  sacred  Book  witnesses  not  alone  against  man 
as  a  sinner.  If  it  did  only  this,  it  would  be  a  sad  book, 
indeed,  to  him,  for  this  he  knows,  hence  it  would  reveal 
no  new  truth  to  him;  it  would  only  confirm  him  in  his 
conviction  of  sin.    But  the  Book  does  not  stop  here ;  it   The  Bible 

goes  forward  and  tells  him  how  he  may  get  rid  of  his  2^®5° 

o  -^   o  Pardon  and 

sins  and  secure  pardon  for  them.    Moreover,  it  tells  him  peace  to 
how,  and  gives  him  the  assurance  that  he  shall  come   *^*'*' 
into  possession  of  conscious  knowledge  of  pardoned  sins 
and  peace  with  God.    "We  know  that  we  have  passed 
out  of  death  into  life."^ 

Man's  dual  nature  is  such  that  upon  him  is  ever  two 
classes  of  wants.  His  physical  nature  demands  food 
and  raiment.  His  spirit,  to  which  belongs  the  intellec- 
tual and  the  moral,  has  its  wants.  Now,  as  the  experi- 
ences of  life  are  enlarged  and  the  field  of  thought  is 
broadened,  in  the  moral  nature  of  man  springs  up  a 
consciousness  of  the  moral  or  the  immoral  quality  of  his 
actions.    This  sense  of  wrong-doing  always  produces  in 

»7.  John  3:  14. 
10 


146  Apologetics 

the  actor  conditions  of  unrest.  Also,  the  noblest  im- 
pulses and  aspirations  of  the  soul  are  inadequately  met 
by  all  things  earthly,  and  at  every  step  in  life  the  wants 
increase  more  and  more,  and  the  world's  utter  insutii- 
ciency  to  meet  them  becomes  more  and  more  evident. 
Now,  just  as  the  hungry  man  knows  that  the  food  which 
he  takes  satisfies  his  hunger,  so  also  the  man  who  com- 
plies with  the  conditions  of  salvation  set  forth  in  the 
sacred  Scriptures,  knows  that  the  religion  of  Christ 
meets  his  moral  want,  and  that  the  sacred  Word  is  a 
revelation  from  God.  For  there  is  a  hidden  truth  con- 
tained in  the  religion  of  the  Cross,  which,  through  faith 
in  the  believer,  leads  him  up  into  conscious  knowledge 
of  pardoned  sins,  peace  with  God,  and  that  the  Word  irf 
truth.  "I  will  give  him  a  white  stone,  and  upon  the 
stone  a  new  name  written,  which  no  one  knoweth  but 
he  that  receiveth  it."^  This  is  the  secret  of  the  church's 
power,  and  has  sustained  the  martyr  at  the  stake  and 
lifted  the  impure  and  profane  into  the  happy  condition 
of  holiness  and  peace.  Bearing  on  this  subject,  says 
Luther,  "God,  therefore,  must  witness  to  thee  in  thy 
heart  that  'this  is  God's  Word.'  "^  Also  says  the  same 
great  and  good  man,  in  speaking  of  the  witness  of  the 
Spirit,  "This  testimony  takes  place  in  this  way,  namely, 
that  as  the  Spirit  works  in  us  through  the  Word,  we  feel 
and  become  conscious  of  his  power,  and  of  the  agree- 
ment of  our  experience  with  the  word  or  declaration  of 
the  gospel."  This  statement  is  the  experience  of  every 
true  believer,  and  witnesseth  to  the  truth  of  God's  Word. 


« Rev.  2:  17.    »  Sprecher's  Theology,  pp.  102-104. 


CHAPTEE  X. 
The  Superiority  of  Christianity  Over  Other  Be- 

LIGIONS  AND  ItS  INTRINSIC  WORTH  A  PROOF 

OF  Its  Divine  Origin. 

1.  Systems  of  religion  are  many.  A  fiber  of  gold 
may  run  through  them  all,  but  tliey  are  not  equally 
good.  Religions,  like  systems  of  philosophy  and  ma- 
chinery, must  be  tested  by  what  they  do.  A  system  of 
philosophy  that  begets  dissensions  and  degrades  man,  is  ReUgions 
condemned  as  bad.  A  piece  of  machinery,  it  may  be  whirThey 
the  farmer's  plow,  or  the  carpenter's  plane,  is  judged  Do. 
as  to  its  merit,  by  the  manner  in  which  it  does  its 
work;  and  that  is  always  pronounced  the  best  which 
does  its  work  the  best.  Just  so  with  religions ;  that  is 
best  which  gives  the  highest,  the  purest,  and  most  per- 
fect and  upright  type  of  civilized  man.  Christianity 
has  not  had  an  open  field  on  which  to  fight  its  battles. 
At  the  time  of  its  introduction  the  whole  world  was 
pagan,  except  Israel,  which  was  but  a  remnant  then. 
These  pagan  religions  had  been  in  the  field  long,  and 
their  merits  well  tested,  even  before  the  advent,  but 
surely  they  were  not  satisfactory. 

2.  The  best  systems  of  paganism  are  full  of  defects. 
Their  conceptions  of  God  were  remarkably  coarse  and 
crude.  Even  Socrates,  who  was  the  purest  and  wisest 
of  the  pagan  world,  while  he  believed  in  a  supreme  God, 

w 


148 


Apologetics 


Imperfec- 
tions of 
Pagan 
Religions. 


believed  also  "in  lords  many  and  gods  many."  As  a 
rule,  the  god  or  gods  even  of  the  most  cultivated  of  the 
Gentile  nations  were  clothed  with  the  corrupt  and  base 
passions  of  men,  and  took  delight  in  human  sacrifice. 
In  truth,  few  of  the  heathen  world  did  not  have,  at  some 
time  in  their  historj^,  either  directly  or  indirectly,  hu- 
man sacrifices  connected  with  their  worship.  There  are 
a  great  want  and  woe  felt  in  the  soul  of  man  that  pagan 
worship  has  never  satisfied.  1  care  not  whether  it  be  the 
religion  of  our  ancestors  or  the  religion  of  the  l^gyp- 
tians,  the  Assyrians,  the  Persians,  the  Chinese,  or  the 
Indians,  their  conceptions  of  God,  his  attributes,  and 
their  worship  were  most  confused  and  uuworth}^  and 
wholly  out  of  accord  with  enlightened  reason.  The 
Persians,  followers  of  their  sage,  Zoroaster,  worshiped 
the  sun,  or  light,  because  he  brought  day  and  banished 
the  frosts  of  winter  and  revivified  the  dead  earth  with 
the  bloom  of  summer.  But  night  brought  rest  to  man, 
and  ought  to  share  in  his  reverence,  hence  the  moon 
•worshipers  shouted,  "Great  is  Diana  of  the  Ephesians." 
These  were  but  two  of  the  heavenly  host,  hence  they 
divided  the  empire  of  the  universe  between  two  antago- 
nistic deities.  A  kindred  conception  also  obtained  among 
the  pantheistic  worshipers  of  India.  Of  all  the  an- 
cient civilized  nations,  none  were  greater  than  the  Egyp- 
tians, and  in  religion  none  were  more  excessive  than 
they.  About  the  middle  of  the  fifth  century  B.  C, 
Herodotus  visited  Egypt.  In  speaking  of  their  re- 
ligion, he  said,  "It  was  easier  to  find  a  god  in  Egypt 
than  a  man,"  and  that  they  were  "religious  to  excess." 
Polytheism  had  set  in  at  an  early  period  in  human  his- 


The  Superiority  of  Christianity  149 

tory,  and  in  Egypt  deification  was  almost  without  limit. 
The  same  thing  was  true  among  the  Greeks  and  the  Ko- 
mans.  No  sooner  had  the  human  mind  conceived  the 
counterpart  of  its  imaginary  god  in  nature  than  fol- 
lowed Apollo,  Hercules,  and  Diana ;  and,  in  its  infatua- 
tion, every  object  on  earth,  in  sea,  or  sky  was  deified 
under  the  names  of  Jupiter,  Saturn,  Juno,  Neptune,  and 
Venus,  until  the  catalogue  was  almost  infinite.  On 
other  subjects  they  reasoned  like  philosophers,  but  on 
God  and  religion  like  fools.  The  attributes  of  their 
deities  were,  in  many  respects,  monstrous.  A  veil  must 
cover  the  principles  and  vile  acts  of  these  pretended 
deities.  The  cheek  of  innocence  would  blush  at  the  re- 
cital of  the  tales  of  shame  in  the  ear  of  modesty.  All 
this  shame  and  gross  impurity,  uncleanness,  and  the 
most  detestable  vices  were  ascribed  by  these  sons  of  rea- 
son and  philosophy  to  the  invisible  and  holy  God  of 
the  universe.  Each  of  the  pagan  nations  recognized  that 
there  was  one  supreme  deity  who  was  chief  among  all 
the  gods,  yet  always  differed  as  to  which  was  the  chief, 
hence  discord  and  a  lack  of  harmony  obtained  among 
them. 

3.  No  person  who  has  read  the  unexpurgated  clas- 
sics, and  especially  the  "Satires"  of  Juvenal,  will,  for  Pagan 
a  moment,  question  the  faithfulness  of  the  keen,  incis-  f^^^°^^ 
ive  charges  of  St.  Paul  in  the  first  chapter  of  his  Epistle 
to  the  Romans.  As  a  rule,  his  picture  is  everywhere  true 
to  pagan  life.  The  pictures  on  the  walls  in  Pompeii 
tell  a  wonderful,  but  sad  story  of  pagan  impurity.  There 
was  not  a  vice  included  under  the  name  lasciviousness 
that  "was  not  sanctioned,  encouraged,  and  practiced 


150  Apologetics 

under  the  holy  and  venerable  name  of  religion."  "The 
more  infamous  the  rites,  the  more  acceptable  were  they 
supposed  to  be  to  the  Deity." 

it  is  difficult  to  conceive  that  our  ancestors  ottered 
their  innocent  children  as  sacrifices  to  their  gods.  Yes, 
our  ancestors,  the  Druids,  had  an  enormous  image  in 
which  they  consumed  their  victims,  and  then  scattered 
their  ashes  over  the  soil.  Not  only  by  burning,  but  by 
the  most  cruel  and  inhuman  methods  did  they  oil'er  their 
human  sacrifices,  and  their  dark  religious  orgies  are 
scarcely  paralleled  in  history  by  any  other  race. 

China  numbers  about  one-fourth  of  the  family  of 
mankind.  Confucius  is  her  sage.  He  was  a  moralist, 
and  taught  much  that  was  good,  but  he  made  no  pre- 
tensions to  reveal  the  invisible.  Ilis  great  struggle  was 
to  revise  the  old  customs  and  laws  of  his  ancestors,  from 
which,  he  claimed,  his  nation  had  departed.  He  was 
devout  and  sincere,  and  some  have  said  that  the  Golden 
Eule  is  found  in  his  teachings.  True,  he  was  the  author 
of  precepts  not  without  value,  both  ethical  and  political; 
but  with  him,  as  with  every  other  ethnic  teacher  to  whom 
it  is  ascribed,  it  is  found,  if  found  at  all,  in  a  negative 
form,  or  in  connection  with  some  other  precept  or  prin- 
ciple from  which  it  may  be  deduced.  But  place  his 
teachings  side  by  side  with  the  teachings  of  Jesus  of 
Nazareth,  and  they  fade  into  confusion.  Great  as  has 
been  his  influence  in  the  past,  his  star  is  now  waning. 
There  are  not  in  his  system  those  elements  of  expansion 
essential  to  keep  abreast  with  an  advancing  age,  and 
which  are  found  to  exist  in  Christianity. 

4.     But  what  did  any  one  or  all  of  these  religions  ac- 


The  Superiority  of  Christianity  151 

complish  for  mankind  ?    In  not  one  instance  did  they  The  superi- 
develop  a  true  civilization.     They  developed  literature,   ch*^t^'  *^* 
science,  philosophy,  and  art,  hut  morality  and  purity  Religion 
in  the  individual  life  and  in  society,  which  are  essential  ^°^q^ 
to  a  true  and  noble  civilization,  they  developed  not.   sMpers  and 
Their  peoples  were  like  the  gods  they  worshiped.    True,   i^ation^^^' 
those  ages  produced  men  who  wrote  well,  and  who  re- 
corded some  worthy  moral  precepts,  but  the  history  of 
those  times  shows  that  the  private  character  of  those  who 
wrote  them  was  the  very  opposite  of  the  precepts  they 
gave  for  others  and  the  principles  which  they  recorded. 
Among  the  nations  of  antiquity,  where  do  you  find  the 
highest  type  of  man,  and  a  government  where  the  rights 
of  all  are  respected  ?  Not  the  Assyrian,  not  the  Egyptian, 
not  in  India,  not  in  China,  nor  in  Greece,  nor  in  Eome. 
Each  of  these  has  had  its  government,  but  not  in  any 
one  of  them  have  the  civil  rights  of  all  been  respected. 
Each  has  had  its  great  men,  but  not  one  whose  life  was 
without  fault.    Out  of  the  slave-pens  of  Egypt,  God  took 
the  man,  Moses,  to  organize  a  model  government  in 
Israel,  in  which  the  rights  of  all  were  respected,  the 
model  government  of  antiquity.     What  nation  had  a 
lav^iver  like  Moses?     What  people  produced  a  char- 
acter like  Job?     Whence  came  the  prophets?     Aye, 
from  what  race  sprang  the  "faultless  Man,"  Jesus,  the 
Nazarene?    Israel  was  homed  midway  between  the  Easb 
and  the  West,  on  the  world's  great  battlefield,  and  there 
served,  both  in  her  religion  and  laws,  as  the  lighthouse 
of  Jehovah  to  illuminate  the  world.    What  made  Israel 
the  model  government  of  the  ancient  world?    Her  re- 


152  Apologetics 

ligion.  She  had  the  best  religion,  and  it  is  religion  that 
determines  the  status,  both  of  man  and  his  government. 
This  has  been  true  in  all  ages.  It  is  true  now.  Keligion, 
like  man,  is  known  by  its  fruits.  In  the  modern  world, 
where  do  we  find  the  highest  type  of  man  and  the  best 
form  of  government  ?  is  it  in  China  ?  in  India  ?  or  in 
Africa?  No,  but  within  the  belt  of  nations  known  as 
Christian.  Here  is  where  man  is  most  highly  civilized ; 
here  no  altar  smokes  with  human  sacrifices;  here  the 
rights  of  man  are  respected  and  home  is  the  garden  of 
God.  And  why  ?  Because  here  is  the  best  religion — the 
Christian  religion.  These  Christian  nations  and  this 
Christian  civilization  are  the  product  of  Christ's  re- 
ligion which  he  gave  to  man. 
Christianity  5.  Christianity,  in  its  breadth  and  moral  purity,  dif- 
Perfect  In       £gj.g  from  all  other  religions  in  this :  it  includes  every 

IVEordJS  8J1(1 

Adapted  to  virtue  and  moral  precept  belonging  to  every  other  re- 
Meet  au  the  ligion,  and  is  free  from  every  defect,  moral  or  other- 
Splritual  o       ^                                                   j                ■- 
Needs  of  wise,  that  attaches  to  all  other  religions.     This  is  its 

"*"•  triumph.     Its  morality  is  pure,  vital,  intelligible,  per- 

sonal, and  adapted  to  the  most  humble  capacity.  It  is 
founded  in  knowledge,  and  is  not  the  offspring  of  igno- 
rance. Its  appeals  are  to  reason  and  to  conscious  knowl- 
edge. Knowledge  alone  is  not  religion,  but  without  it, 
true  religion  cannot  exist.  All  other  religions  are  more 
or  less  clothed  in  mystery.  Their  theology  is  a  system 
of  complex,  incomprehensible  theories,  if  intelligible  at 
all,  only  to  the  philosopher  and  the  priest,  while  the 
humble  masses  are  imposed  upon  with  grossest  fables 
as  a  substitute  for  religion,  of  which  Buddhism,  Mo- 
hammedanism, and  Confucianism  are  now  striking  illus- 


The  Superiority  of  Christianity  153 

trations.  But  Christianity  is  the  consolation  alike  of 
the  poor  and  of  the  rich.  The  gospel  "is  no  respecter  of 
persons."  It  has  no  mysteries,  dark  to  a  plain  under- 
standing, and  fathomable  only  by  the  philosopher;  no 
mysteries  but  such  as  are  necessarily  beyond  the  limited 
comprehension  of  human  reason ;  therefore,  equally  mys- 
terious and  obscure  to  the  wise  and  to  the  unwise.  The 
fundamental  principles  and  precepts  descend  to  the  un- 
cultivated capacity  of  the  "wayfaring  man"  as  their 
competent  judge.  Christianity  includes  all  as  guilty 
before  God.  "For  all  have  sinned,  and  fall  short  of 
the  glory  of  God."  "Through  one  man  sin  entered  into 
the  world,  and  death  through  sin;  and  so  death  passed 
unto  all  men,  for  that  all  have  sinned."^  So,  also,  it 
includes  all  in  its  redemptive  scheme.  The  religion 
of  Jesus  Christ  adapts  itself  to  every  want  and  condi- 
tion of  all  men,  and  it  hides  the  poor  under  the  shadow 
of  its  broad  wings  from  every  ill  and  injury  of  life. 
One  of  its  most  glorious  triumphs  is,  not  only  that  it 
gives  life  and  cheer  as  it  develops  in  the  soul  of  the 
believer,  but  that  its  comforts  and  consolations  are  abid- 
ing, even  unto  death,  for  in  the  history  of  Christianity 
there  is  not  one  case  on  record  or  in  tradition  where  a 
Christian  at  death  regretted  that  he  had  lived  a  disciple 
of  his  blessed  Lord.  Here  is  its  grand  victory!  It  is 
equally  suited  to  the  east,  the  west,  the  north,  and  the 
south;  it  alike  meets  the  needs  of  the  Eskimo  and  the 
South  Sea  Islander,  Caucasian  and  African.  Each  is 
included  in  the  charge  it  brings  against  man,  each  life 
lived  has  justified  the  charge,  and  each  individual  mem- 

>Bom.3:  23;  5:  12. 


154  Apologetics 

ber  of  the  whole  family  of  mankind  is  equally  interested 
in  the  discoveries  it  makes  of  "life  and  immortality 
brought  to  light"  by  its  Founder.  How  different  all 
this  from  the  teachings  of  paganism.  Buddhism  ex- 
horts to  renounce  the  desire  of  a  future  life.  Karma 
knows  nothing  of  continued  personal  identity  and  im- 
mortality. Nirvana  dissolves  conscious  identity  here- 
after. Says  T.  W.  Ehys  Davids  of  the  Buddhistic  re- 
iigion,  "In  it  we  have  an  ethical  system,  but  no  lawgiver, 
a  world  without  a  creator,  a  salvation  without  eternal 
life,  and  a  sense  of  evil,  but  no  conception  of  pardon, 
atonement,  reconciliation,  or  redemption."^  Plato,  wise 
and  great  in  philosophy,  plodded  his  way  up  the  mist- 
enshrouded  coast  of  ontology  to  the  throne  of  the  In- 
finite, yet  he  could  give  no  satisfactory  answer  how  to 
get  rid  of  evil  and  become  like  God.  He  conceived  ig- 
norance to  be  the  chief  source  of  sin,  and  philosophy 
the  panacea  for  all  such  maladies,  but,  alas !  he  taught 
that  only  a  few  could  attain  to  such  knowledge. 

6.  The  schools  of  the  Epicureans  and  the  Stoic  phi- 
Christianity  josophers  dominated  the  Eoman  Empire  in  the  opening 
Forth  a          century  of  the  Christian  era,  and  this  empire  was,  in 

Perfect  .^  sense,  tlie  then  civilized  world.     It  was  in  the  face 

Ideal  and  a  ' 

Perfect  Ex-    of  these  schools  and  their  teachers  and  pupils,  on  the 

one  liand,  and  the  rabbinical  schools  and  their  teachers, 
on  the  other,  tliat  Cbristianity  was  introduced  to  the 
world.  This  also  was  the  age  and  the  world  empire  in 
which  literature,  philosophy,  and  paganism  reached  their 
culmination  in  the  ancient  world.  Here  and  then  it 
fought  its  first  battles.  It  was  these  Epicureans  and 
« T.  W.  Rhys  Davids,  in  Non-Chrlstlan  Religions,  page  13L 


ample  for 
Life 


The  Superiority  of  Christianity  155 

Stoics  with  whom  St.  Paul  disputed  in  Athens.  The 
resurrection  of  the  dead,  and  iiiuuortaiity  were  so  foreign 
to  their  conceptions  tliat  when  he  referred  to  the  sub- 
ject, "some  mocked;  but  others  said.  We  will  hear  thee 
concerning  this  yet  again."^  The  charge  that  Paul 
makes  against  the  Athenians,  that  "the  city  was  full  of 
idols,"  is  verified  by  the  history  of  the  world  in  that 
age.  The  Epicureans  taught  a  system  of  morality  which 
made  pleasure  the  highest  good  and  the  only  true  hap- 
piness of  life ;  hence  all  action  should  be  directed  to  this 
end.  It  was  strictly  materialistic  and  atheistic.  Car- 
ried out  to  its  last  analysis,  it  gives  fruit  such  as  ob- 
tained in  society  during  the  Koman  emperors,  the  En- 
glish deists,  and  the  French  encyclopedists — a  beastly 
debauchery  and  imbecile  stupidity.  The  Stoic  philos- 
ophy was  better,  and  developed  better  morals  among  its 
disciples.  The  three  greatest  were  Seneca,  the  advocate, 
and  greatest  literary  character  of  his  age,  Epictetus,  the 
slave,  and  Marcus  Aurelius,  the  emperor.  These,  in 
many  respects,  were  noble  men,  but  their  teachings  were 
for  the  philosophers,  and  not  for  the  mass  of  humanity. 
The  morality  they  taught  was  remarkably  imperfect,  as 
each  for  himself  well  knew  and  was  painfully  conscious 
of  the  sad  fact.  As  a  result,  their  teachings  were  pow- 
erless to  rouse  the  people  and  to  stir  the  consciences  of 
the  profligate  and  wicked  and  lead  them  to  a  better  life. 
Their  system  had  no  well-grounded  hope  of  immortality, 
and  was  without  a  faultless  example  among  its  dis- 
ciples. It  swept  from  the  human  heart  all  desire,  all 
passion,  all  pity ;  it  had  eyes,  but  no  tears ;  a  heart,  but 

£Aots  17:  32. 


156  Apologetics 

no  emotions;  it  was  cold,  proud,  and  haughty,  with  af- 
fected insensibility  and  imaginary  wisdom.  "A  perfect 
Stoic  would  be  sterile,  useless,  inhuman."  This  is  not 
Christianity,  that  weeps  with  those  that  weep,  and  re- 
joices with  those  who  rejoice,  "in  contrast  with  all  the 
ancient  systems  of  philosophy,  Christianity  brought  for- 
ward such  a  conception  of  God,  that  the  precept  to  be 
like  him  was  intelligible,  and  could  be  profitably  obeyed. 
It  brought  forward  the  truth  of  a  providence  of  God, 
extending  over  all  persons  and  events,  a  universal  care 
comprehending  the  least  of  God's  creatures,  and  causing 
all  things  to  conspire  to  promote  the  well-being  of  his 
children.  Natural  sensibility  is  not  petrified.  Natural 
affections  and  emotions  are  left  in  healthy  activity,  but 
trust  in  the  fatherly  love  and  wisdom  of  God  enables  the 
afflicted  to  be  at  peace.  Moreover,  in  distinction  from 
all  other  religions  and  philosophies,  Christianity  pro- 
Tides  redemption.  That  is  to  say,  while  it  holds  up  the 
ideal  of  perfection,  the  law  of  righteousness,  it  provides, 
at  the  same  time,  effectual  means  of  attaining,  through 
Jesus  Christ,  to  the  partial,  and,  ultimately,  to  the  com- 
plete realization  of  it. 

When  the  incomparable  superiority  of  the  Christian 
eystem  over  the  other  religions  of  the  world  and  over 
the  highest  achievements  of  philosophy  is  duly  appre- 
ciated, it  appears  unreasonable  to  think  that  Christianity 
sprang  from  the  unaided  intelligence  of  the  humble,  un- 
lettered Hebrews  who  were  the  instruments  of  publish- 
ing its  truths  to  the  world."^ 

>  Fisher's  Manual  of  Christian  Evidences,  p.  112. 


CHAPTER  XL 

Some  Objections  or  the  Honest  Doubter  to 
Christianity  Answered. 

The  sacred  Scriptures,  Old  and  New  Testaments, 

claim  to  be  a  revelation  of  facts  from  God,  as  Father, 

to  man,  as  his  child.     Men  are  the  recorders  of  this 

revelation.    Each  writer  tells  his  own  story  in  his  own  „^ 

•'  The 

way,  not  to  demonstrate  a  proposition,  but  to  state  facts.  Authors 

In  the  mind  of  the  author,  and  the  recorder  as  well,  of  ^^  *^® 

^  '         Recorders 

these  facts  the  thought  is  nowhere  hinted  that  they  of  Reveia- 

were  to  be  questioned,  disputed,  or  to  be  proved,  but  ^^  simpiy 
simply  accepted  and  obeyed.    And  on  no  other  hypothe- 
sis can  the  marvelous  success  of  the  gospel  in  the  first 
century  better  be  accounted  for  than  on  the  fact  that 
the  disciples  and  the  first  preachers  of  the  gospel  acted 
upon  the  above  principle.    They  "preached  the  Word." 
The  age  of  controversy  came  later.     Doubt  assumed  a 
formidable    attitude    towards    the    sacred    Scriptures. 
Apologetics  were  written  to  dispel  the  doubt  of  the  hon- 
est doubter  and  to  bring  in  higher  favor  the  Word  of 
God.    Just  as  in  these  Scriptures  the  existence  of  God 
is  assumed,  not  by  cogent  argument  proved,  so  Moses   The  Pur- 
and  the  prophets,  Christ  and  his  apostles,  assumed  to   A^oiosftlcB 
state  as  facts  what  they  said  and  recorded,  but  tarried  is  to 
not  to  prove  them  true  by  argument,  claiming  that  to  ^J*/ 
comply  brought  conscious  knowledge  of  the  truth  stated  Doubt 

1ST 


158 


Apologetics 


Wliy  Were 
Not  Cbrlst's 
Credentials 
so  Attested 
As  to  Pass 
Unchal- 
lenged? 


to  the  doer.  This  fact  is  too  often  overlooked  or  lost 
sight  of,  even  by  the  honest  doubter,  for  it  ought  to 
be  remembered  that  in  religion  as  in  mathematics,  there 
are  some  things  axiomatic.  Said  Jesus,  "If  any  man 
willeth  to  do  his  will,  he  shall  know  of  the  teaching, 
whether  it  be  of  God,  or  whether  I  speak  from  myself." 
Just  as  the  best  evidence  a  man  can  have,  whose  sense  of 
taste  is  normal,  that  the  apple  is  sour  is  to  taste  it,  so 
the  sacred  writers  assumed  that  the  highest  evidence  a 
man  can  have  that  their  messages  are  Heaven-sent  is  to 
obey  them. 

But  to  the  honest  doubter's  objections:  "If  Christ 
were  really  the  Son  of  God,  sent  to  save  the  world,  why 
were  not  his  credentials  so  attested  that  they  would  pass 
unchallenged?"  the  objector 'urges:  "Little  time  is  spent 
in  the  examination  and  discussion  of  the  credentials 
of  the  representative  of  one  government  sent  on  some 
mission  to  another,  because  they  are  so  clearly  and  un- 
equivocally avouched  that  the  above  inspection  is  suffi- 
cient to  satisfy  those  to  whom  they  are  addressed  of 
their  genuineness.  In  other  words,  they  answer  per- 
fectly the  purpose  for  which  they  were  given.  The 
credentials  of  Christ  are  still  in  dispute,  although  they 
have  been  under  inspection  for  almost  two  thousand 
years."  At  first  sight,  this  objection  is  not  without 
force.  But  when  it  is  critically  examined,  and  the  facts 
involved  duly  stated,  the  criticism  breaks  down.  The 
cases  are  not  parallel.  The  political  governments  of 
earth  have  knowledge  of  the  existence  of  each  other,  but 
the  kingdom  of  God,  which  Jesus  came  to  represent, 
was  a  government  unknown  to  men.    At  least,  it  was 


Some  Objections  159 

then,  and  now  is  admitted  that  he  was  the  only  repre- 
sentative who  claimed  to  have  come  down  from  heaven 
to  represent  that  government  in  that  unknown  country. 
In  the  second  place,  his  credentials: 

(1)  At  his  birth,  an  angel  from  heaven  proclaimed  Announced 
him  Heaven's  ambassador.  "For  there  is  born  to  you  by  Angels. 
this  day  in  the  city  of  David  a  Saviour,  which  is  Christ 

the  Lord."^  Also,  a  star  led  the  "wise  men"  to  the 
manger  in  Bethlehem  where  he  was.  "And  lo,  the  star, 
which  they  saw  in  the  east,  went  before  them,  till  it 
came  and  stood  over  where  the  young  child  was."^ 
These  supernatural  occurrences,  recorded  by  the  evan- 
gelist as  facts,  were  believed  by  all  who  witnessed  them, 
or,  at  least,  there  is  no  record  from  that  century  that  they 
were  even  questioned. 

(2)  The  works  which  he  performed  were  presented 
by  him  as  his  credentials.  "If  I  do  not  the  works  of  my 
Father,  believe  me  not.  But  if  I  do  them,  though  ye 
believe  not  me,  believe  the  works :  that  ye  may  know  and 
understand  that  the  Father  is  in  me,  and  I  in  the  Fa- 
ther."^ This,  perhaps,  had  no  reference  to  any  one 
particular  class  of  works,  but  to  all  the  acts  which  he 
performed.     Some  were  natural,  others  supernatural —  Appealed  to 

his  miracles.     The  eleventh  chapter  of  Matthew  opens  His  works 

As  Cre- 
with  the  information  that  "when  Jesus  had  made  an  aentiials. 

end  of  commanding  his  twelve  disciples,  he  departed 

thence  to  teach  and  preach  in  their  cities."     To  him 

came  John's  disciples  and  asked,  "Art  thou  he  that 

cometh,  or  look  we  for  another?"     Jesus  said,  "Tell 

John,     .     .     .    the  blind  receive  their  sight,  and  the 

*  Luke  2:  11.    'Matt.  2:9.    *  John  10:  37,  38. 


160  Apologetics 

lame  walk,  the  lepers  are  cleansed,  and  the  deaf 
hear,  and  the  dead  are  raised  up,  and  the  poor  have 
good  tidings  preached  to  them.''^  Now,  the  cases 
of  Jesus  miraculously  restoring  sight  to  the  blind 
are  recorded  as  follows:  Matt.  9:27-30;  11:5;  12: 
2;  21:14;  of  Bartimreus,  20:30-34;  Mark  10:46- 
52 ;  8 :  22-25 ;  of  a  man  at  Bethsaida,  a  man  born 
blind,  John  9 : 1-7.  Also,  the  cases  in  which  he  restored 
persons'  hearing,  Mark  7  :  37 ;  9  :  25.  In  which  he  raised 
the  dead:  widow's  son,  Luke  7: 12-15;  Jairus's  daugh- 
ter, Luke  8:49-55;  Lazarus,  Jolm  11:43,  44.  Lepers 
The  Fact  of  l^ealed  by  Christ :  Matt.  8:3;  Mark  1 :  40-42 ;  Luke  5 : 
ciirist's  13;  17 :  12-14.  He  healed  all  manner  of  diseases  among 
Not  Ques-  ^^^  people  in  a  miraculous  way,  and  cast  out  demons 
tioned  by  from  the  possessed,  and  he  commanded  the  winds  and 
poraries.  the  sea,  and  they  obeyed  him.^  The  reality  of  these 
miracles  wrought  by  Christ  were  not  questioned  by  the 
eye-witnesses,  but  were  acknowledge  by  them  as  matters 
of  fact.  True,  some  who  witnessed  attributed  them  to 
Satanic  agencies:  "But  some  of  them  said.  By  Beelze- 
bub, the  prince  of  the  devils,  casteth  he  out  devils."* 
As  hinted  above,  it  was  not  the  men  who  witnessed  the 
miracles  performed  by  Christ  who  doubted  their  reality. 
They  recognized  them  as  genuine,  but  the  age  of  doubt 
came  later,  just  as  doubts  respecting  other  facts  in  his- 
tory. We  have  an  illustration  in  the  writings  of  Shakes- 
peare. In  his  day,  his  authorship  of  the  writings  which 
bore  his  name  was  not  questioned,  but  the  nineteenth 
century  has  produced  volumes  to  disprove  his  author- 
ship of  those  same  writings.    The  same  is  true  of  Menes, 

•Matt.  11:  1.    *Matt.  8:  26-31    >Lukell:  16. 


Some  Objections  161 

the  founder  of  the  first  dynasty  of  united  Egypt,  and 
also  of  King  Minos,  whose  home  and  capital,  according 
to  Greek  tradition,  was  located  at  Cnosus,  on  the  island 
of  Crete.  Skeptical  criticism  has  long  since  banished 
both  these  to  the  land  of  myth.  But  the  recent  discov- 
eries at  Abydos  reveal  the  fact  that  "Menes  and  his 
successors  were  living  in  the  full  bloom  of  a  civilization 
which  was  already  old."  Also,  of  King  Minos,  the  dis- 
coveries of  the  past  year  by  Mr.  A.  J.  Evans,  on  the 
island  of  Crete,  "have  proved  that  the  story  of  his  power 
and  civilization,  instead  of  being  mythical,  really  fell 
short  of  the  truth,  and  that  Cnosus  was  the  chief  seat 
of  culture  known  as  'Mykenean'  in  the  days  when  the 
eighteenth  dynasty  ruled  over  Egypt."  The  men  who 
lived  in  the  days  of  these  kings,  and  were  their  subjects, 
had  no  doubts  respecting  the  real  existence  of  those 
monarchies  and  the  acts  performed  by  Menes  and  Minos. 
But  the  age  of  doubt  came  later,  and  so  increased  until 
doubt  ripened  into  unbelief,  and  swept  them  from  the 
domain  of  history.  This  is  a  fact  that  must  not  be 
overlooked,  namely,  that  the  men  of  one  age  cannot 
believe  for  men  of  succeeding  ages.  They  can  record 
the  facts  of  history,  political  and  religious,  of  the  age 
in  which  they  live,  and,  in  so  far  as  they  are  concerned, 
the  matter  rests  there.  It  is  just  so  with  Jesus  of  Naz- 
areth. He  came  to  earth,  the  ambassador  of  the  king- 
dom of  God ;  he  presented,  as  the  seal  of  his  ambassador- 
ship, his  miracles,  organized  that  kingdom,  pushed  his 
religion  into  history,  and  has  left  it  for  the  ages  to  dem- 
onstrate his  heavenly  mission. 

Now,  it  is  beyond  the  power  of  the  human  intellect  to 
11 


162 


Apologetics 


The  Cre- 
dentials 
Christ 
Presented 
Were  the 
Highest 
Conceivable 
to  Human 
Reason. 


conceive  of  any  higher  proof  of  Christ's  divine  mission 
than  the  credentials  (miracles)  and  his  own  personality 
which  he  presented.  Here  two  things  must  be  taken 
into  the  account :  first,  as  implied  in  a  former  statement, 
the  country  and  kingdom  which  he  came  to  represent 
was  unknown  to  the  children  of  earth,  except  only  in 
so  far  as  they  had  learned  from  the  Hebrew  Scriptures ; 
second,  the  message  which  he  brought  to  man  was  a 
message  condemning  both  the  then  existing  governments 
of  earth  and  the  religions  of  paganism  and  the  religious 
lives  of  the  people  to  whom  he  came.  He  laid  the  axe 
at  the  root  of  the  tree,  paganism  and  the  false  religious 
life  of  the  peoples,  and,  at  the  same  time,  claimed  uni- 
versal sovereignty  for  the  government  which  he  repre- 
sented, and  demanded  the  annihilation  of  all  of  earth's 
religious  systems  then  existing,  and  proclaimed  the  ulti- 
mate, universal  acceptance  of  his  own,  and  himself  as 
King  of  kings  and  Lord  of  lords.  I  would,  in  the  spirit 
of  my  Lord,  ask  the  honest  doubter :  If  an  ambassador 
from  any  known  government  on  earth  were  to  present 
his  credentials  to  the  government  of  Great  Britain,  and 
set  up  claims  for  his  government  and  make  demands 
such  as  did  Jesus  of  Nazareth  upon  the  governments  of 
earth,  would  his  credentials  be  likely  to  receive  higher 
recognition  than  Christ's  did  ?  Would  not  some  doubt  ? 
And  would  not  likely  more  doubters  arise  as  the  world 
would  recede  from  the  date  of  the  event?  It  is  said, 
"The  credentials  of  Christ  are  still  in  dispute,  although 
they  have  been  under  inspection  for  almost  two  thou- 
sand years."  How  long  would  the  credentials  of  the 
ambassador  supposed  be  "under  inspection"  by  the  gov- 


Some  Objections  163 

ermnent  of  Great  Britain  before  she  would  recognize 
them?  'Not  until  England's  navy  was  swept  from  the 
seas,  and  her  army  dismantled  of  its  broken  shields. 
The  recognition  of  the  Christ  as  Heaven's  ambassador 
is  one  thing,  but  surrendering  a  life  of  obedience  to  his 
demands  is  quite  different.  Judging  from  the  course  of 
the  world  in  his  day,  and  now,  the  latter  seems  to  be 
the  more  difficult  for  man.  There  are  many  ten  thou- 
sands of  peoples  in  almost  every  Christian  land  who 
believe  Jesus  to  be  the  world's  Eedeemer  and  Lord,  and 
that  to  be  saved  and  not  perish  they  must  surrender 
themselves  to  him  and  live  a  pure  and  worthy  life,  yet 
they  do  not  make  that  surrender  and  do  not  live  that 
pure  and  worthy  life,  but  live  in  the  daily  open  viola- 
tion of  what  they  believe  to  be  God's  Word  and  displeas- 
ing to  Jesus  Christ,  whose  credentials  they  recognize 
as  from  God.  All  this  is  a  matter  of  conscious  knowl- 
edge to  them. 

(3)  In  the  personality  of  Jesus  and  the  life  which 
he  lived  is  great  weight  of  evidence.     Christ  Jesus  is 
greater  than  any  or  all  of  the  works  he  did,  or  the  marv- 
elous life  he  lived.     He  stands  the   Colossus,  unap- 
proached  and  unapproachable  among  the  sons  of  men.   ^cter  of 
He  taught  that  all  men  should  repent,  but  he  repents  ^^^^^  ^^^ 
not.    He  lays  sin  at  the  door  of  every  man  of  the  race,  dentiai. 
but  asks,  "Which  of  you  convinceth  me  of  sin?"    His 
life  was  spotless.     Born  amid  the  degeneracy  of  his 
race,  and  in  an  age  of  lust  and  shame,  he  lived  and 
wrought  in  the  interest  of  the  degraded  and  sinful,  un- 
touched and  untarnished  by  the  vices  of  men.    No  one 
like  him  lived  before  his  day,  and  no  one  since  his  day. 


164 


Apologetics 


Evidence 
Siifflclent  to 
Convince 
AU  Wlio 
Are  Willing 
to  Obey. 


Doubt  Does 
Not  Release 
Man  firom 
Moral 
Obligation 
to  Obey  God 
and  Serve 
His  Fellow- 
Hen. 


Account  for  everything  in  him  and  about  him  on  natural 
principles  as  far  as  you  can,  yet  there  stands  the  sinless 
Christ,  the  friend  of  sinners,  as  he  represented  himself 
to  be.  Now,  I  believe  the  evidences  of  Christianity  are 
so  convincing,  and  especially  the  personality  of  Jesus 
and  the  miracles  which  he  performed,  as  recorded  in 
the  four  Gospels,  that  any  man  who  will  examine  them 
carefully  with  a  view  to  obeying  the  teachings  of  Christ, 
if  convinced  they  are  true,  will  always  attain  to  a  faith 
or  belief  sufficient  for  a  working  basis,  and  if  he  does 
not,  I  would  say  that  responsibility  for  the  lack  of  faith 
does  not  obtain  in  his  case,  just  as  a  man  who  is  color- 
blind is  not  responsible  for  not  being  able  to  distinguish 
colors.  But  there  is  one  thing  for  which  he  is  respon- 
sible, namely,  the  life  he  lives,  for  it  must  be  remem- 
bered that  Christ  requires  only  the  life  every  man  should 
live,  which  life  is  for  the  highest  good  of  the  individual 
and  of  society.  In  his  own  words,  "Love  thy  neighbour 
as  thyself,"^  and  in  "all  things  therefore  whatsoever  )^e 
would  that  men  should  do  unto  you,  even  so  do  ye  also 
unto  them ;  for  this  is  the  law  and  the  prophets."-  This 
is  the  very  soul  of  human  duty.  Also,  the  prophet  puts 
the  gist  of  what  every  life  should  be  in  the  sight  of  God 
in  these  terse  words,  "He  hath  shewed  thee,  0  man,  what 
is  good ;  and  what  doth  the  Lord  require  of  thee,  but  to 
do  justly,  and  to  love  mercy,  and  to  walk  humbly  with 
thy  God?"^  Every  man  is  morally  bound  by  the  laws 
of  society  to  live  such  a  life  as  is  here  described,  whether 
he  is  an  honest  doubter  or  a  dishonest  doubter;  and 
Christianity  demands  at  his  hand  no  more  than  the 


•Mark  12:  81.    »Matt.  7:  12.    »Mlch.6:8. 


Some  Objections  165 

rights  of  man,  and  the  highest  interests  of  society  de- 
mand of  him  in  the  character  of  the  life  which  he  ought 
to  live.  The  author  of  nature  gives  no  man  beforehand 
an  absolute  guarantee  that  he  shall  reap  a  harvest  from 
the  seed  which  he  casts  into  the  ground;  he  only  gives 
him  a  guarantee  amounting  to  a  probability  that  if  he 
sows  he  shall  reap.  This  probability  is  his  working 
basis.  But  he  has  a  positive  assurance  that  if  he  does 
not  sow  he  shall  not  reap.  Now,  if  he  lingers  in  doubt 
and  does  not  sow,  he  must  perish  for  the  want  of  bread. 
This  is  the  sense  of  Christ's  words,  "He  that  disbelieveth 
shall  be  condemned."  He  who  lives  a  wicked,  sinful  life 
has  the  evidence  of  condemnation  within  himself,  and 
he  has  conscious  knowledge,  growing  out  of  his  own 
experience,  that  his  bad  passions  of  sin  are  growing 
stronger,  and  that  he  is  gradually  sinking  into  a  pit, 
in  so  far  as  he  knows,  of  endless  ruin. 

But  it  may  be,  in  justice,  further  stated  that  imper- 
fect as  are  the  Christian  governments  of  earth,  the  man 
who  lives  up  to  the  letter  of  their  requirements  is,  to  say  Analogy 

the  least,  not  far  from  the  kingdom  of  God.     It  is  a   °^  *^®   _ 
'  °  Civil  Law. 

fact  recognized  that  their  laws  and  courts  of  law  are 
based  upon  the  sacred  Scriptures.  Now,  as  a  rule,  the 
man  whose  life  is  out  of  accord  with  civil  law,  which, 
as  stated,  is  based  upon  the  Word  of  God;  that  is,  the 
man  who  is  guilty  of  theft,  murder,  adultery,  defraud- 
ing his  neighbor,  or  any  other  violation  of  law,  is  dealt 
with  by  the  courts  and  punished  according  to  the  laws 
of  the  government.  Now,  these  courts  do  not  stop  to 
consider  whether  the  prisoner  believed  or  disbelieved 
God's  law  or  the  civil  law,  which  is  based  on  God's  law; 


166  Apologetics 

vhether  he  was  a  doubter  or  a  believer,  but  they  simply 
determine  whether  his  life  is,  or  is  not  snch  as  every 
man's  must  be  to  stand  acquitted  before  the  law;  that 
is,  whether  his  life  is  such  as  the  rights  of  man  and  the 
highest  interests  of  society  demand  of  every  man,  even 
if  there  were  not  a  God  in  the  universe,  and  condemn 
or  justify  him  accordingly.  These  civil  courts  clearly 
recognize  that  doubts,  honest  as  they  may  be,  seldom,  if 
ever,  are  the  cause  of  a  man's  bad  life  or  a  justification 
of  it.  They  adjudge  him  guilty  on  the  ground  that  he 
had  conscious  knowledge,  that  his  acts  were  wrong,  and 
that  he  had  the  opportunity  and  power  to  have  done 
otherwise  had  he  chosen  to  do  so.  Respecting  Christ  and 
his  credentials  as  ambassador  from  the  court  of  heaven 
to  earth,  a  distinguished  judge  says:  "My  own  theory 
in  the  matter  is,  that  it  is  not  a  question  of  logic  any 
more  than  the  axiom  that  'things  equal  to  the  same 
thing  are  equal  to  each  other'  is  the  subject  of  mathe- 
matical demonstration.  That  Christ  lives  and  is  the 
Saviour  of  the  world  is  as  hard  to  prove  by  argument 
as  it  would  be  to  prove  that  the  friend  whom  you  may 
introduce  to  another  is  really  present  and  existent.  He 
to  whom  your  friend  is  introduced  knows  he  exists  and 
is  present;  his  whole  consciousness  testifies  to  the  fact. 
That  is  the  highest  degree  of  proof."  He  further  adds : 
*'It  seems  to  me  we  are  apt  to  exalt  reason  above  its 
true  place  among  the  faculties  of  the  mind.  Reason 
and  intuition,  as  it  seems  to  me,  are,  in  a  sense,  antago- 
nistic faculties,  one  of  which  can  be  developed  at  the 
expense  of  the  other.  Of  the  two,  intuition,  to  me,  seems 
to  be  the  higher  faculty.     For  while  reason,  from  the 


Some  Objections 


167 


same  evidence,  may  lead  two  men  in  exactly  opposite  di- 
rections, intuition  is  either  silent  or  will  guide  to  the 
right  unerringly/' 

Proofs  and  argument  in  the  field  of  Christian  evi- 
dences, it  is  true,  have  their  place,  and  are  of  high  im- 
portance, but  the  vital  experience  of  saving  faith  is  vital 
deeper  and  broader  than  argument,  and  the  fact  that   ^f^^^^^^ 
the  Christian  has  conscious  knowledge  that  Christ  Jesus   jg  Above 
saves  him  from  his  sins,  and  is  saving  the  world,  is  the  Argument, 
highest  possible  proof  that  he  came  from  God  and  is 
accomplishing  his  divine  commission. 


INDEX. 


Age  of  Christianity,  77. 

Alexandrian  Philosophy,  78. 

Ambassador,  60,  82. 

Apologist,  7,  11. 

Apostles,  82. 

Aristides,  Apology  of,  34. 

Athanasius,  33. 

Augustine,  33. 

Aurelius,  155. 

Authority  of  Holy  Scriptures,  18. 

Authenticity  of  Scripture,  18. 

Authors  of  Scripture,  46. 

Barnabas,  24. 

Bible,  Criticisms  of,  14. 

Divine  Origin  of,  7. 

God's  Book,  49. 

Wonders  of,  18. 

See  Scripture. 
Bram,  14. 
Butler,  43, 105. 

Canon,  New  Testament,  32, 33. 
Celsus,  J^.  29, 110. 
Cerinthus,  26,  29,  36. 
Channing,  113, 117. 
Christ,  7. 

Confidence  In  Self  and  His  Plans, 
113. 

Did  Not  Argue,  114. 

Evidence  Sufficient,  164. 

His  Character,  108, 163. 

His  Credentials,  158. 

His  Mission,  114. 

His  Methods,  109. 

Historic,  107. 

Independent  of  His  Age,  107. 


Christ— Continued. 

Influence  of  His  Teachings,  109k 
117. 

Life  of.  Solitary,  108. 

Made  No  Mistakes,  115. 

Messenger  Sent  From  God,  114. 

Not  the  Product  of  His  Enyiron- 
ment,  112. 

Opposed  Conceptions  of  Jews,  109. 

Revealed  Brotherhoodof  Man,  IIL 

Self-Revelation  of  God,  107. 

Suffering  Foretold,  113. 

Vastness  of  His  Conceptions,  110. 
Christian  Evidences,  7. 
Christianity- 
Admitted  Facts,  99. 

Adapted  to  Man's  Need,  152. 

Displaced  Religions  in   Roman 
Empire,  102. 

Gives  a  Perfect  Ideal  and  Perfect 
Life,  154. 

Has  the  Highest  Civilization,  151. 

Is  It  Supernatural  ?  7. 

Perfect  Morals,  150. 

Superior  to  Other  Religions,  160. 
Church  Councils,  103. 
Clement,  24. 
Constantine,  102. 
Council  of  Laodicea,  33. 
Council  of  Carthage,  33. 
Curetonian  Version,  36. 
Cyprian,  25. 
Cyril,  33. 
Cyrus,  the  Great,  131. 

Diatessaron,  35- 
Dictation  Theory,  48. 


169 


170 


Apologetics 


Dlodorns,  16, 22, 14L 
DionysiuB,  25. 
Dlviue  Origin  of  Bible,  7. 
Docetse,  38. 

Doctrines  of  Scriptures,  139. 
Concerning  Pardon,  145. 
Concerning  Man's  Sin  and  Gailt, 

143. 
Confirmed  by  History,  141. 
Regarding  Man,  140. 
Self-Consciousness  of  Man,  143. 
The  God  of,  139. 
Doubt,  157,  164. 

Dynamical  Theory  of  Inspiration, 
46. 

Ebionites,  37. 
Ego,  8. 

Epicurean  Philosophy,  7JJ. 
Eusebius,  32,  35,  37. 
Evidences,  7. 
Existence  of  God,  7. 
Ezra     Collected     Old     Testamen* 
Books,  31. 

Fatherhood  of  God,  8. 
Fathers,  Church,  24. 
Farrar,  47,  55. 
Fisher,  156. 
Future  Life,  13. 

Gibson,  Mrs.,  Found  Syrian  Ver- 
sion, 36. 
God,  Attributes  of,  9,  20. 

A  Spirit,  8. 

Existence  of,  8. 

Not  Bound  by  Nature  or  Fate,  70. 
Goethe,  57. 
Gospel  of  Peter,  37. 

Heathenism,  15. 
Heresy,  37, 38. 
Hermes,  24. 
Herodotus,  148. 
Hlerocles,  28,  29,  92. 
Historic  Christ,  107. 
Historic,  Revelation,  9. 
History,  Claim  of  Scriptures,  9. 


Hittites,  40. 
Hyksos,  41. 
Hume,  Darid,  11, 119. 

Ideal  Character,  107. 
Ignatius,  24. 
Illumination,  47. 
Immortality,  12, 13. 
Inspiration  of  Scriptures,  45. 

Claims  of,  49. 

Comparison  of  Theories,  48. 

Definition,  48. 

Dictation  or  Mechanical,  46. 

Dynamical  Theory,  46. 

Essential  Theory,  47. 

Faultless  Life  of  Christ  a  Proof, 

57. 
Illumination  Theory,  47. 
Inspiration    of    Old    Testament 

Recognized,  50. 
Jews  Accepted  It,  52. 
Manner  in  Which  God  Spake  to 

Men,  45. 
Nature  of  Contents  Proves,  64. 
New  Teslament  Claims,  52. 
Old  Testament  Claims,  49. 
Ordinary  Inspiration,  47. 
Relation  and  Authenticity,  45. 
Writers'  Claim,  53. 
Irseneus,  25,  34, 36,  54. 

Jerome,  25, 93. 

Jerusalem,  136. 

Jesus  Christ- 
Faultless,  58, 
Methods  of,  10,  23. 
See  Christ. 

Jews- 
Ancient,  21. 
Hated  Race,  127. 

Josephus,  22,  23,  29. 

Julian,  26,  29,  92. 

Justin,  16,  22. 

Justin,  Martyr,  35, 39,  M. 

Koran,  IS. 
Knowledge,  60. 


Index 


171 


Law— 

Of  Life  and  Gravitation,  66. 

Not  Violated  In  Revelation,  10. 
Lardner,  26,  29,  32,  33. 
Lewis,  Mrs.,  36. 
Light  of  Nature,  12. 
Lycurgus,  IS. 

Man,  8, 10. 
Marclon,  38. 
Miracles- 
Age  of  Intelligent,  77. 

Apostles  Worked,  82. 

Christ's  Credentials,  60, 162. 

Cover  Long  Period,  84. 

Credibility  and  Intent,  69,  63. 

Definition  of,  (50. 

Distinguished    from    Extraordi- 
nary Occurrences,  61. 

Enemies  Admitted,  91. 

Expectation  of,  63. 

Ood  Not  Bound  by  Nature  or 
Fate,  70. 

Illustration  of,  74. 

Mediate,  63. 

Miracles  Done  Openly,  83,  89. 

Objections  to,  66,  67, 158. 

Presumption  Against,  66. 

Science  Acknowledges,  68. 

Eu  jject  to  Criticism,  83. 

rho  Y/itucssesof,  64. 

.nquc'-tioncd    by   Contempora- 
Tiez,lCX 

Were  Disciples  Deceived  in,  77. 

Mohammedanism,  15. 
Morality,  15, 17. 
Moral  Obligation,  9, 164. 
Moses,  7, 15,  21. 
Muratorian  Fragment,  32. 
Mussulman,  17. 

Nabonidus,  43. 
Nature,  8, 11. 
New  Testament,  7,  flS. 
Norton,  37. 


Objections,  8, 13, 157. 
Obligation,  Moral,  9, 16i. 
Old  Testament,  7,  49. 
Ordinary  Inspiration,  47. 
Origin,  25,  28,  37. 
Orphic  Verses,  22 

Pagan  Nations,  12, 14. 

Paley,  29. 

Pentateuch,  Author  of,  21,  29. 

Persecutors  Become  Christians,  9S> 

Personality,  8, 163. 

Personal  Revelation,  8. 

Peter,  Oospel  of,  37. 

Phllo,  29. 

Philosophy,  78. 

Plato,  17,  72. 

Pliny,  27, 54,  lOa 

Polycarp,  24,  34. 

Porphyry,  26,  29, 93. 

Prophecy,  119. 

Cyrus  in,  131-135. 

Defined,  119. 

Egypt  in,  124. 

Fulfillment  the  Test,  130. 

Historic  Evidence  of,  121. 

Nineveh  and  Babylon  in,  121. 

Proofs  of  Christianity,  120. 

Prophets  Commanded  of  God,  120. 

Prophecies  of  Christ,  136. 

Regarding  Fate  of  Jews,  127. 

Regarding  Man  of  Sin,  137. 

Regarding  Nations  Adjacent  to 
Israel,  130. 

Regarding  Tyre,  126. 

Relation  of  Jews,  18L 

Rameses  II.,  41. 

Recapitulation,  98. 

Reason,  45. 

Reconciliation,  9. 

Religion,  15, 17. 

Resurrection,  64. 

Revelation- 
Contained  in  Bible,  7, 8, 14. 
Historic,  9. 
Imparts  Knowledge  to  Man,  10. 


172 


Apologetics 


Revelation— Continued. 
Need  ot,  7, 12, 13. 
No  Valid  Objection  Against,  8. 
Objections  Considered,  13, 167. 
Special— 
In  Harmony  with  Nature,  10, 11. 
Personal,  8. 
Tests  of,  14. 
RuflnuB,  33. 

Sacrifice,  16, 17. 
Samaritan  Pentateuch,  30i 
Scbaff,  Philip,  31,  32. 
Scripture- 
Aim  of,  73. 

Authenticity  of,  18. 

Authors  of,  20. 

Canon,  of  New  Testament,  32. 

Consists  of,  18. 

Documentary  Evidence,  34. 

Hittite  Testimony,  40. 

History  Confirmed,  22, 28. 

Importance  of,  19, 2& 

Inspiration  of,  45. 

Muratorlan  Fragment,  32. 

Old  Testament  before  Christ,  29. 

Origin  of,  19. 

Samaritan  Pentateuch,  30. 

Beptuagint,  30. 

Teachings  of,  20. 

Teaching  of  Church  Father*  Con- 
cerning, 24. 

Testimony  Regarding  Christ's,  23. 

See  Bible. 
Septuagint,  30. 
Seraplon,  87. 


Skeptical  Philosophy,  71^ 

Socrates,  12, 17. 

Solon,  15. 

Sprecher,  48, 147. 

Strabo,  23. 

Suetonius,  26.  100. 

Supernatural  Revelation,  IL 

Syrian  Version,  36. 

Tacitus,  26, 99,  101. 

Tel-el -Amarna  Tablets,  89, 12^ 

Talmud,  92. 

Tatian,  35, 

TertuUian,  24. 

Testament,  Old  and  New,  7, 18. 

Testimony  of  Heathen  Writers,  22. 

Theism,  7. 

Theodoret,  35. 

Theology,  Natural,  7. 

Theologian,  Duty  of,  7. 

Titus,  137. 

Uniformity  of  Nature,  97. 
Unseen  Universe,  68. 

Veders,  14. 
Version— 

Curetonlan,  SOL 

Peshito,  36. 

Septuagint,  30. 

Syrlac,  36. 
Van  Oosterzee,  47, 54. 

Will  of  God  Revealed,  H 
Wright,  Dr.  U.F.,aab 

Zahu,  87. 


